By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER

Published: 20:08 GMT, 26 December 2025 | Updated: 04:39 GMT, 27 December 2025

A Russian diplomat has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after he was caught selling secrets to US intelligence. 

The moment Arseniy Konovalov was ambushed by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents was captured on video. 

The clip, which was shared today across Russian news outlets, shows the 38-year-old looking shocked as he is detained while travelling in a van after being told he was suspected of treason. 

A separate video shows the diplomat behind bars as he awaited trial. 

A Moscow court on Friday found the former Russian diplomat guilty of treason and sentenced him to 12 years in a maximum-security penal colony.

He was also fined the equivalent of $1,200.  

'It was established that AS Konovalov, an employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during a long-term foreign assignment in the United States, proactively transferred secret information to American intelligence for money,' the FSB said in a statement.

Konovalov was first detained by the FSB, which leads Russian counter-intelligence, in March 2024. 

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The moment Arseniy Konovalov was ambushed by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents was captured on video

A separate video shows the 38-year-old diplomat behind bars as he awaited his trial

Konovalov will spend 12 years behind bars after a Moscow court found him guilty of treason

The FSB did not say what information Konovalov had passed to US intelligence, or which US agency he was accused of working with. 

There was no immediate comment from American spy agencies.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper said Konovalov had served as second secretary of the Russian Consulate General in Houston. 

He worked in the United States from 2014 to 2017, the publication said.