MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court sentenced on Friday a Serbian national who sold Russian classified military information to the U.S. during the 1990s to eight years in prison.

Alexander Georgijevic, 63, was arrested in November 2007 and charged with collecting Russian state secrets for a U.S. owner of foreign commercial companies serving the interests of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

Georgijevic gathered secret information on Russian tanks and missiles and passed it on to Farid Rafi via an intermediary over a period of several months from the spring of 1998.

The intermediary, Viktor Kalyadin, was arrested in December 1998 and sentenced to 14 years in jail.

On arrival at Moscow's Sheremetevo airport nine years later, Georgijevic was arrested at passport control, and later charged with "passing on state secrets to a representative of a foreign state."

The Serbian pleaded guilty to passing on secret information on the Arena, Blokada, Khrizantema-S, Iskander military systems and the R-500 missile.

A court spokesman said that although Georgijevic should have been given between 10 and 20 years in prison for the crime, the spy received a 'milder' sentence due to his confession, advanced age and poor health.