The court refused to reduce the sentence of a Romanian citizen convicted in Kuban.
An appellate court upheld the 15-year sentence of Romanian citizen Adrian-David Kercho, whom the Krasnodar Regional Court found guilty of espionage.
As "Caucasian Knot" reported, in early March, the Krasnodar Regional Court sentenced Romanian citizen Adrian-David Kercho to 15 years in prison, accused of espionage on behalf of Ukraine. According to the prosecution, Kercho expressed a desire to join a Ukrainian armed group, and a Ukrainian intelligence officer offered to ensure his safe passage out of Russian territory in exchange for collecting and transmitting information about Russian military facilities.
The guilty verdict against 24-year-old Romanian citizen Kercho, convicted of intelligence activities for Ukrainian special services, has entered into force, the FSB Public Relations Center reported today.
Security officials recalled that David-Adrian Kercho, according to their version, collected and transmitted data on the location of air defense systems in Sochi to Ukrainian intelligence services in August 2024. "He was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum-security penal colony," the agency's website stated.
According to the case file on the Krasnodar Regional Court website, both the convicted man and his lawyer filed appeals against the sentence. A higher court upheld Kercho's sentence.
In December 2024, the Abkhaz State Security Service reported the arrest of Romanian citizen David Kercho (also referred to as David Kercho Adrian), suspecting him of attempting to film military bases and facilities on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. It was claimed that he came to Abkhazia as a tourist and maintained contact with the Ukrainian intelligence service. The Abkhazian State Security Service published a video in which the detainee testified in English, describing his connections with Ukrainians.
On December 16, 2024, the Russian state news agency reported that David Kerch Adrian, detained in Abkhazia, had been deported from the republic. "He committed no illegal acts and cooperated with the investigation, which is why he was deported from the republic and declared persona non grata in Abkhazia," TASS quoted a State Security Service representative as saying. The publication did not specify where exactly the Romanian citizen was deported.
In April 2025, the Russian FSB announced that a Romanian citizen, born in 2002, had been detained in Sochi. He had been collecting data on air defense deployment locations on assignment from Ukrainian special services as early as the summer of 2024. The official statement on the agency's website did not name the detainee.