RAGING tyrant Vladimir Putin has sent a woman, 24, to gulag after she was accused of selling secrets to Ukraine.
Viktoria Mukhametova has been sent to a penal colony for 12-and-a-half years after she was accused of handing Kyiv blueprints for Russia's tanks.
Russian authorities blasted her for treason, spying and selling secrets from the tank factory where she worked.
She is alleged to have sent the plans for Vlad's tanks - of which nearly 9,000 have been lost in Ukraine - for £980.
Asked what she needed the money for, she replied: “Just to live.”
Viktoria was also fined £2,400 for her alleged crimes.
READ MORE ON UKRAINE
Her husband also works at the vast Uralvagonzavod plant in Nizhny Tagil and, like her, was brutally detained by Vlad's cops.
He faces similar treason charges for passing secrets to Ukraine and a separate trial.
When they were arrested he was seen pinned to the ground by FSB agents.
Viktoria showed no visible emotion as she was found guilty of treason and sentenced to remain behind bars until 2037.
Most read in The Sun
Russia's brutal penal colonies see prisoners live and work in harsh conditions.
It is at one of these facilities where Putin's hated enemy Alexei Navalny died back in February.
Russia is currently racked by spy-mania - with Putin's paranoid officials jumping at shadows as the war rolls on in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Russia convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on a totally bogus charge of espionage.
They accused him of gathering secret information about the same defence company where Viktoria worked.
He was later finally freed from the tyrant's clutches in a prisoner swap.
Putin was seen at the plant - which makes the T-90 main battle tank - with two functionaries seen behind him carrying his suspected nuclear briefcase and a fold-out bulletproof shield.
The plant also repurposes creaking, rusting Soviet-era tanks for use in the war against Ukraine.
Details of what secrets Mukhametova allegedly passed to Ukraine were not disclosed.
Vlad is more powerful than ever, says ex-Kremlin aide
By Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
VLADIMIR Putin is more powerful than ever, a former Kremlin adviser has warned.
Political scientist Nikolay Petrov believes Putin is irreplaceable and virtually unmovable from the top seat in Russia due to his iron-clad control over those beneath him.
Political scientist Nikolay Petrov believes Putin is irreplaceable and virtually unmovable from the top seat in Russia due to his iron-clad control over those beneath him.
Most were left deciding if they wanted to support Putin and stay in Russia - or desert him at the beginning of the invasion.
Almost all of those who stayed close to the tyrant rallied around him despite the looming threat of additional Western sanctions, Petrov said.
Petrov also warned that life after Putin's reign could see Russia destabilised with no one powerful enough left to take the reins.
He said Putin's weak cronies and brainwashed citizens are completely reliant on him and a period of chaos would follow without the tyrant.
KEEP READING HERE.