Russian defense plant worker convicted over passing on missile secrets

A court says it has convicted a Russian defense company worker of passing missile secrets to foreign intelligence.

The Sverdlov Regional Court in the city Yekaterinburg today handed an eight-year prison sentence to Alexander Gniteyev, a worker at a defense company dealing with automatic systems. Court spokesman Yelena Maryina said Gniteyev also has been ordered to pay a 100,000 ruble ($3,200) fine.

Anna Lastovitskaya, a spokeswoman for the regional branch of the Russian Federal Security Service, said Gniteyev had divulged missile secrets to foreign intelligence, but wouldn't say what country Gniteyev was spying for.

Russian news agencies said that Gniteyev had handed over secrets related to the Bulava missile that has been developed to arm the latest generation of Russian nuclear submarines.

AP