Russian room official Safronov charged in treason probe

An adviser to the head of the Russian house company has appeared in court docket on charges of treason.

Roscosmos mentioned in a assertion (in Russian) that previous journalist Ivan Safronov’s arrest was not joined to his latest position there.

Russia’s FSB security assistance claimed he was suspected of spying for a Nato country. He has denied the prices.

Beforehand he described on armed forces subjects for two key Russian small business dailies – Kommersant and Vedomosti.

Independently on Tuesday journalist Taisiya Bekbulatova was detained after police raided her flat, Kommersant claimed. She was questioned as a witness but later advised reporters she was not able to solution their inquiries simply because of the nature of the scenario.

Bekbulatova, the chief editor of independent information magazine Holod Media, is claimed to be a close friend of Safronov.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained of the treason allegations: “As significantly as we know this is not connected to his prior journalistic action in any way.”

Safronov joined Roscosmos as data adviser to director normal Dmitry Rogozin in the middle of May perhaps.

The house agency said it was aiding investigators with their inquiries.

The former journalist faces up to 20 many years in jail if convicted.

Veil of secrecy in this sort of scenarios

Kommersant newspaper, in which Ivan Safronov worked for a ten years, phone calls the charge of treason from him “absurd” and describes him as a patriot. Pals and colleagues are demanding an sincere and open investigation.

But that will be tricky at any time to know. Precise facts is notoriously difficult to acquire in spy situations, with trials held powering shut doors and even defence legal professionals banned from sharing critical evidence.

The Russian stability support, the FSB, also appoints its have authorities to ascertain what constitutes a point out mystery, and contesting their conclusions is nigh on unachievable.

There will be an particularly extreme emphasis on this circumstance, nevertheless. Ivan Safronov is nicely acknowledged in Moscow journalist circles. A younger gentleman who wrote on usually sensitive, armed service matters, he is described by pals as genuine, open up and qualified and there is a sense of bewilderment – and anxiety – right here at his arrest.

An FSB assertion explained Safronov was thought to have been doing the job for the security companies of an unspecified Nato state.

“He gathered and passed to its representative categorized information and facts about armed service-complex co-procedure, defence and security of the Russian Federation,” it mentioned.

But in his courtroom look, Safronov claimed he did not confess any guilt.

He refused to give evidence all through questioning by the FSB, working out his ideal to continue to be silent, Tass news company reported.

Meanwhile, close friends and former colleagues posted messages of help on social media. Several fellow journalists had been arrested outside the house FSB headquarters while demonstrating from his arrest.

What do we know about his get the job done as a journalist?

Safronov was extremely acclaimed as a reporter on military services and space challenges for Kommersant, right before relocating to Vedomosti past 12 months.

In June 2019, courtroom proceedings ended up held more than the alleged disclosure by Kommersant of information and facts constituting a point out key.

The data reportedly experienced to do with an report co-authored by Safronov about Russia’s deliveries of Su-35 fighter aircraft to Egypt. The report was afterwards taken off from the Kommersant web page.

By the time of the court situation, Safronov had been sacked from the newspaper for an posting he worked on suggesting that Russian higher house speaker Valentina Matviyenko was about to depart her post.

The total politics desk of the paper resigned in protest at the dismissal.

Safronov’s father, also named Ivan, was a effectively-regarded armed service commentator at Kommersant.

He died right after falling from the fifth flooring of a Moscow condominium creating in 2007.

Ivan Safronov senior experienced been investigating promises of planned Russian arms profits to Syria and Iran at the time of his death, Kommersant said.

What is Roscosmos?

The Roscosmos State Company for Space Functions, to give it its total title, developed into its existing sort in 2015 as a countrywide company responsible for a large selection of space flights and programmes.

Mr Rogozin, a controversial nationalist politician, took demand of the company in Might 2018.

But it has been beset with difficulties. An accident afterwards in 2018 forced the launch of a Soyuz rocket to the Worldwide Space Station to be aborted.

Just in advance of this incident, the crew on the ISS experienced found a mysterious gap.

The subsequent yr, President Vladimir Putin’s pet place undertaking, the Vostochny space centre, was tainted by scandal as prime officers had been jailed for theft and corruption.