Former Russian space chief adviser arrested on charges of treason
Russian security forces have arrested Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who works as a policy adviser to the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, on treason charges.
“Safronov, carrying out tasks for one of the NATO countries’ intelligence services, gathered and handed over to its representative state secrets and information about military-technical cooperation and about the defence and security of the Russian Federation”, Russia’s Federal Security Service said in a statement.
Safronov has covered military affairs, arms trade and government affairs. He is accused of passing military secrets to an intelligence agency in the Czech Republic when he worked as a correspondent for top Russian business daily Kommersant. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in jail.
Journalists gathered outside the FSB building to protest Safronov’s arrest, saying he had been arrested for his independent journalism. Several demonstrators were arrested.
Safronov’s father was also an investigative reporter at Kommersant. He died in 2007 after falling from a window. Investigators said it was suicide, but some of his colleagues believe he might have been killed, as he was working on a sensitive story about Russian arms deals with Iran and Syria.
