US Sentences Ex-Army Green Beret To 15 Years For Spying For Russia - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2021) The United States has sentenced a former US Army Green Beret Peter Dzibinski Debbins to 15 years and 8 months in prison for spying for Russia, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday.

"A former Army Green Beret was sentenced today to 188 months in prison for conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to provide them with U.S. national defense information," the statement read.

Acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh accused Dobbins of trading secrets and jeopardizing US national security.

"The defendant's brazen disclosures to Russian intelligence agents jeopardized U.S. national security and threatened the safety of his fellow servicemembers," Parekh said.

US authorities resolute to prosecute those who betray their sworn oath, he added.

Court document showed that Debbins, now 46, conspired a Russian intelligence agency from December 1996 to January 2011 and visited Russia numerous times. In 1997, he received a code name and signed an agreement to cooperate with Russia, it added.