Former employee at Russian tank plant sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason

A court in Yekaterinburg in the Russian Urals has sentenced a former employee of a machine-building company to 12.5 years in prison for treason after finding her guilty of “passing on military and technical data” to Ukraine, local media outlet It’s My City reported on Friday.

Viktoria Mukhametova worked as a machine operator at UralVagonZavod, the largest battle tank company in the world, which is based in the city of Nizhny Tagil in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region.

According to the investigation, Mukhametova handed Ukrainian contacts military and technical data in exchange for 100,000 rubles (€950). She pleaded guilty to the charges against her, according to state-affiliated business daily Kommersant, having confessed to handing over technical drawings while under interrogation.

Mukhametova, who was detained with her husband Danil Mukhametov in the spring of 2023, said that she and her family had hoped “simply to live” on the money she received, according to Kommersant.

Unlike his wife, Mukhametov, who was an engineer at the same company, did not plead guilty and is being tried separately.