They’re not Americans, or from any Western country. They are Russian citizens; but that doesn’t make their victimization by Vladimir Putin’s regime any less of an abomination.

Engineer Danil Mukhametov and his wife Viktoria both worked at the Uralvagonzavod (Ural Tank Factory) — one of the largest tank manufacturers in Russia — located in the city of Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk Oblast (Region), about 870 miles east of Moscow.

It is the same factory from which Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was falsely accused of gathering secret information — leading to his arrest in March of 2023, conviction on charges of espionage, imprisonment in a Russian penal colony, and to his ultimate release in a prisoner swap on August 1st of this year.

Coincidence? Well, lets see . . .

Also in March of 2023, Ural Tank Factory employees Danil and Viktoria were arrested by the FSB (formerly the KGB) and charged with having committed state treason by passing military secrets to Ukraine. They were held in detention for more than a year and a half before being brought to trial.

Last month, Viktoria was convicted by the Sverdlovsk regional court of selling technical blueprints to Ukrainian officials for 100,000 rubles (just over $1,000), and sentenced to 12-1/2 years in prison. At her trial, she is said to have confessed to accepting the money, “just to live.” [Andrew Osborn, Reuters, November 5, 2024.]

And earlier this week, Danil was tried by the same court and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony, after allegedly admitting guilt for passing unspecified technical military information to Ukraine’s intelligence services. [Id.]

Both “confessions” came after being held in custody for more than 18 months.

The judge who heard both cases — behind closed doors, of course — was the same judge who had earlier convicted Evan Gershkovich.

Now tell me whether you still believe in coincidence.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
11/8/24