Anatoly Maslov is amongst a lot of outstanding Russian scientists accused of treason in recent times.
Russian physicist Anatoly Maslov has been convicted of treason, in keeping with the press service of the St. Petersburg metropolis courts.
On Tuesday he was sentenced to 14 years in jail. Maslov, 77, who protests his innocence, is amongst a lot of eminent Russian scientists who’ve been accused of treason in recent times.
He and a number of other others had accomplished theoretical work in areas related to the event of hypersonic missiles: cutting-edge weapons able to carrying payloads at as much as 10 occasions the pace of sound to penetrate air protection methods.
Maslov was accused of sharing top-secret knowledge associated to Russia’s hypersonic missile program with Germany.
Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev, two different scientists from the identical Siberian institute, all specialists in hypersonics, who’ve additionally been detained since 2022 on prices of treason, are awaiting trial.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly mentioned that Russia is a world chief on this discipline of weapons.
Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov of Pervy Otdel (First Division), an affiliation that makes a speciality of defending individuals in instances of treason and espionage, mentioned the fees in opposition to the three scientists had been roughly the identical: leaking info thought-about a state secret whereas collaborating at a global convention or analysis.
“Any conviction in opposition to Maslov is a critical violation of the legislation,” he informed Reuters information company.
“I’m certain that Maslov is just not responsible of the acts of which he’s accused and is a sufferer of the coverage of the Russian authorities.”
chilling impact
In a uncommon open letter printed final yr, colleagues of Maslov, Shiplyuk and Zvegintsev mentioned the boys had been harmless and that scientific papers they’d printed or offered at worldwide conferences had been vetted to make sure they didn’t embody restricted info.
They mentioned the instances had been having a chilling impact on Russian academia and making it inconceivable for scientists to do their work.
In response, the Kremlin mentioned on the time that the boys confronted “very critical accusations” and that their instances had been a matter for the safety companies.
Russian media quoted Maslov’s lawyer as saying that the physicist, in his closing speech in courtroom, mentioned he had devoted his complete life to science and by no means dreamed of betraying his nation.
The protection mentioned Maslov had suffered a coronary heart assault earlier within the yr and {that a} lengthy jail sentence can be equal to a loss of life sentence.
‘Completely political step’
Final month, Alexander Kuranov, one other scientist in the identical discipline, was jailed for seven years. The Russian newspaper Kommersant mentioned his sentence had been lowered in trade for testifying in opposition to Maslov.
“It’s clear that the persecution of scientists is an solely political measure by the Russian authorities, with which they intend to show that intelligence companies around the globe try to steal the secrets and techniques of Russian weapons,” mentioned Smirnov of Pervy Otdel.
He mentioned the detained scientists weren’t working immediately on weapons, however had been learning bodily processes related to excessive speeds.
“The essence of the accusation is roughly the identical for everybody,” Smirnov mentioned, including that the so-called secrets and techniques had been really “printed overtly and out there to anybody.”
