Russian space official arrested for allegedly passing state secrets to West

Russian security services have opened a treason case against a former journalist who, in May, began working as an adviser to the head of the country’s space agency. According to reports, FSB agents arrested Ivan Safraonov on July 7. Following his arrest, experts have opined that he could face up to 20 years in prison.

“Safronov, on the orders of the secret services of a Nato country, collected and transmitted information classified as state secrets about military cooperation, defence and security of the Russian Federation,” said the FSB in a statement released to Russia’s Tass news agency.

Safronov, for a decade, had been working for Russian newspaper Kommersant, writing about Russian military and space agency. In addition, he also briefly worked for the Kremlin pool of journalists, as per reports.  In May 2019, he was fired for an article on the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament. He then went on to join Vedomosti, one of the last remaining independent media outlets but resigned in April.  In May, he joined ROSCOSMOS as special adviser to had of organisation.

The FSB has till now not released any immediate information about the kind of secrets Safronov is accused of passing on. However, there are suggestions that it could be related to a Kommersant article about Russia selling Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt, co-written by Safronov. It was published in March last year and deleted from the website shortly after. Rusian media has reported that he was previously questioned on various stories by FSB.

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China accuses Canadians 

This comes as, on June 19, Chinese prosecutors charged two Canadians detained in the country since 2018 for suspected espionage that can result in life imprisonment. Following which, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he is “very disappointed” with China’s move and has informed that Ottawa would keep mounting pressure on Beijing to release its two citizens. 

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were arrested in China towards the end of 2018 on charges related to security just after Canadian law enforcement officers detained Meng Wanzhou on American warrant and is the chief financial officer in the Chinese tech giant, Huawei. The Asian superpower has repeatedly stated that the detention of the Canadians is not related to Meng being in Canada’s custody. However, international media agency has cited former diplomats and experts who have claimed that Kovrig and Spavor are being used to pressurize Canada. 

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Image credits: AP