Canadian Navy officer sentenced to 20 years for spying

A Canadian navy officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay a steep fine for leaking military secrets to Russia.

Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Delisle pleaded guilty in October to breach of trust and passing information to a foreign government, but it is still not known what if any damage the security lapse caused to Canada or the United States.

His sentence is the strongest punishment for espionage in Canada's history, said prosecutor Lyne Decarie, who was satisfied with the outcome.

Canada's Chief of the Defense Staff, General Tom Lawson, said Delisle's betrayal had struck at the "bedrock" of Canada and its allies' mutual defense, putting their intelligence sharing at risk.

"A critical foundation of our intelligence mission is the mutual trust we have forged with our allies, and other intergovernmental and international partners," Lawson said in a statement.