MOSCOW, May 31 - RAPSI. The Moscow City Court has sentenced retired Col. Vladimir Lazar to 12 years in a high-security prison and deprived him of his military rank for spying for the United States, the FSB PR Center reports on Thursday.

"The investigation and the court inquiry have established that in December 2008 Col. Lazar, who was in Moscow and acted upon the instructions of U.S. military intelligence agent Alexander Lesment, obtained and delivered to him a large amount of geographical maps containing information referring to state secrets," the center reports.

The prosecutor's office stated that Lazar bought from a Russian collector over 7,000 electronic topographic maps in April, took them to Belarus and delivered them to Lesment through an intermediary. Lesment provided the images to the Pentagon.

Lazar was found guilty of high treason, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The date of the sentence has not yet been specified.