Russia Sets An All-time Record For The Number Of Convictions For Treason And Espionage
14- 5.10.2025, 20:17
- 6,234
Two people every day.
In Russia, in the first six months of 2025, courts handed down 224 verdicts in cases of high treason, espionage and confidential cooperation with foreign states. This is a record figure in the country's modern history. According to data from the analytical center Kirill Parubets, prepared for the "First Department" project, 232 people became defendants in these cases.
If we take into account that there were 117 working days in the first half of the year, it turns out that in Russia, on average, every day the court issued almost two verdicts - 1.98. For comparison: for the whole of 2023, 167 people were convicted under the articles mentioned, and for the first half of 2024 - 143. All the verdicts were convictions, and all those convicted received real terms.
Since the beginning of the war in Russia, 774 people have been convicted under articles on high treason, espionage and confidential cooperation. In 2025, for the first time, three cases of forced medical measures were recorded.
Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, such cases were rare: until 2022, courts averaged one conviction for treason or espionage per month. Then the rate increased dramatically - 14 per month in 2023, 30 monthly in 2024, and already 39 in the first half of 2025.
The vast majority of defendants - 177 people, or 76% - are convicted under the article on state treason. In 2024, the share of this category was 68%. It has become a common wartime practice to combine Articles 275 (state treason) and 205 (terrorist act) in one criminal case. While no such cases were recorded before 2023, in 2023 there were already 12 such cases, and in 2024 - 104, which amounted to 29% of the total number of cases. In the first six months of 2025, there were already 83 such defendants, or 36%.
In the first half of this year, sentences in cases of state treason and espionage were passed in 57 courts, including eight military, 43 regional and six courts in the occupied territories, including Crimea. By comparison, a year earlier such cases were heard in 47 courts. In 2025, sentences under these articles were heard for the first time in Kamchatka Krai, Kostroma, Kurgan, Penza and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in Udmurtia and Yakutia. Military courts accounted for 37.5% of all convicts (87 people), a year earlier - 33%.
Another feature of recent years is the high level of secrecy. Since 2023, Russian courts have been hiding the names of about 60% of defendants, replacing them with the wording "Information withheld." Data from courts in the occupied territories are not included in these statistics.
The number of convictions in cases of state treason and espionage continues to grow in parallel with terrorist cases. After a gradual increase in 2020-2022, a sharp jump is recorded in 2023-2024. Analysts estimate that by the end of 2025, the number of those convicted under articles on state treason and espionage will exceed 500 people, and in terrorism cases - about 1,500, writes "First Division".
In December 2024, Vladimir Putin, in his address to security officials, demanded from the FSB to "more actively identify spies and traitors". He stressed that the country needs to "seriously improve the quality of work of special services", promptly suppress the activities of foreign intelligence agencies and "fight those who organize sabotage and terrorist attacks". According to him, special tasks are facing the military counterintelligence and border service, as well as in the sphere of countering extremism and economic crimes.
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