Italian naval officer sentenced to 20 years for spying for Moscow
A court in Rome has sentenced a former Italian Navy officer to 20 years in prison for spying on behalf of Russia, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Jan. 19.
According to the report, Walter Biot, formerly a frigate captain, was caught in March 2021 passing secret documents to Russian embassy staff in a Rome shopping mall. He took photos of 19 confidential NATO documents, including those marked “Top Secret,” in exchange for a promised reward of EUR 5,000 ($5,292).
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Italian prosecutors had sought an 18-year prison sentence for the offense.
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In 2021, Italy expelled two Russian embassy staff members in connection with the case.
Biot’s wife said in 2021 that financial difficulties caused by salary cuts during the COVID pandemic led her husband to work for Russian intelligence. She claimed that he intended to hand over only “insignificant” information to Moscow.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
