Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
A former journalist and current policy advisor to the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, was detained on Tuesday accused of treason, the organization announced.
The charges Ivan Safronov faces relate to the passing of state secrets to a NATO country,a news agency said, citing Russia's security service (FSB).
The FSB allege Safronov passed on classified military data, as well as defense information, to the other country.
Meanwhile, Roscomos said an investigation was underway and that it was "fully cooperating with the investigative authorities."
The space agency said in a statement that the arrest of Safronov in Moscow had nothing to do with his work at Roscosmos. He joined the space agency as a media and policy advisor in May this year.
A source told news agency Interfax that Safronov's arrest could be connected to his work as a journalist, his previous profession, and that he did not have permission to access state secrets as a member of staff at Roscomos.
Safronov was a journalist and columnist working for the independent newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti, where he wrote about political issues, the military, and space programs in Russia.
In 2019, Kommersant took down an online article co-written by Safronov about the delivery of Russian jets to Egypt. The decision to remove the column was made in the wake of court proceedings getting under way looking into the disclosure of state secrets.
Safronov was forced to resign from Kommersant in May 2019 after filing a report saying the speaker of Russia's upper house was planning to resign.
The entire politics desk of the newspaper quit in protest against the dismissals of Safronov and a colleague who co-authored the piece.
