A former US marine has been sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Russian court on spying charges.
Moscow City Court convicted Paul Whelan on charges of espionage on Monday and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison.
Mr Whelan holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship and was detained in Moscow in late December.
Mr Whelan has insisted on his innocence, saying he was set up, and the US embassy has denounced Mr Whelan’s trial as unfair, saying no evidence has been provided.
John Sullivan, the US ambassador to Russia, said the sentencing would harm relations between Moscow and Washington.
Mr Whelan's lawyer said his client had been told he would be part of a prisoner swap with a Russian national held in the United States, something the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had proposed on many occasions.
Mr Whelan's brother, David, said lawyers will appeal the verdict which he denounced as political, adding in a statement that "the court's decision merely completes the final piece of this broken judicial process".
"We had hoped that the court might show some independence but, in the end, Russian judges are political, not legal, entities," the statement said.
"We look to the US government to immediately take steps to bring Paul home."
His brother previously said he had no idea why his brother was targeted by the Russian security services.
He said Mr Whelan was in Moscow to help plan the wedding of another former Marine because he had been to Russia several times before.
