A court in Russia's Republic of Mordovia in the Volga region has refused to approve the early release of a former Russian intelligence officer jailed for treason.

The court explained its refusal by saying Gennady Kravtsov had received reprimands from the penal colony's guards for violating the penitentiary's internal regulations, including "incorrectly making up his bed," Kravtsov's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, said on October 25.

Kravtsov was found guilty of providing Western intelligence services with classified information about the Tselina-1 spacecraft and was sentenced in 2015 to 14 years in prison. The sentence was later cut to 6 years.

Kravtsov was also stripped of his rank of colonel.

Kravtsov was arrested in May 2015. He says he put some information related to the spacecraft in his resume while trying to get a job in Sweden.

Kravtsov's case was one of several in recent years in which Russian citizens have been accused of disseminating classified or sensitive information.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax