Treason trial set for Russian hypersonic missile scientist

Anatoly Maslov, 76, and two colleagues from the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) are accused of treason.

the first of three Russian hypersonic missile scientists being arrested on suspicion of treason will go on trial next week in a case that sources say involves allegations of betraying secrets to China.

The criminal case against Anatoly Maslov, 76, will be opened in the St. Petersburg city court on June 1, the court said on its website on Wednesday.

Maslov and two colleagues from the Khristianovich Institute for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) in Siberia were arrested on suspicion of treason over the past year.

All three are specialists in hypersonics, a field of key importance for the development of Russia’s next generation of missiles, which are capable of flying at 10 times the speed of sound.

The case, which is marked “top secret,” will be closed to the media and the public, the court said. The Kremlin previously said the suspects face “very serious charges,” though the details of their alleged crime are secret.

The news portal of the science city in Siberia where they were based said that Maslov was suspected of handing over secrets to China.

Two sources told the Reuters news agency that suspect Alexander Shiplyuk, the director of ITAM, is suspected of passing secrets to China at a conference there in 2017. They said he denies the charge and said the information in question was available. publicly online.

ITAM has extensive international ties and says on its website that it is registered as part of Russia’s military-industrial complex.

Maslov – whose custody was extended until November 10 in a closed-door hearing on Wednesday – was arrested last June in Novosibirsk, Siberia’s largest city. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, a former KGB interrogation site.

In St. Petersburg, he was placed in the FSB security service jail on Shalernaya Street, where many Soviet dissidents were held by the KGB, Maslov’s lawyer Olga Dinze told Reuters.

He declined to comment further on the case, saying “the situation is extremely difficult.”

Maslov’s colleagues and other suspects Shiplyuk and the third man arrested, Valery Zvegintsev, last week published an open letter in his defense, warning that the prosecutions threaten to harm Russian science.

Last month, the Russian parliament voted to increase the maximum sentence for treason to life in prison, from 20 years.