scientists are accused of treason at the behest of Putin

Since 2018, at least 12 scientists have been arrested in Russia who were engaged in the study of physical processes at hypersonic speeds. As the Russian Service of the BBC writes in its investigation, orders to arrest them in the FSB came directly from the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Three of those arrested have since died.

According to the publication, since 2005, Putin has used “advanced hypersonic Russian technologies that have no analogues in the world” as a threat to the so-called collective West.

Since 2018, the demand for scientists engaged in fundamental research in the field of hypersound has increased in Russia. They began to be accused of treason for presenting their discoveries at foreign conferences coordinated by the FSB and for publishing in foreign magazines – because their research was used in the creation of weapons.

Since then, Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk, Valery Zvegintsev, Vladyslav Galkin, Anatoly Gubanov, Valery Golubkin, Vladimir Kudryavtsev, Roman Kovalev, Sergey Mereshchakov, Dmitry Kolker and two more scientists, whose names are not given by the publication, have been arrested.

“There is a topic of hypersound, on which people need to be planted”

As the lawyer from the “First Department” points out, the goal of the FSB’s work in such cases is to create the appearance that spies are after Russian developments in the field of hypersonic technologies: “It will amuse him to show that Russian rockets are the best and they are trying to steal them.”

Smirnov also said that the investigators who worked on the cases of his clients about treason, directly said that they report to Putin about every case of treason against scientists.

Most of the arrested are related to each other in one way or another. Yes, all those arrested are from four institutions: the Novosibirsk Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITPM) of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Tomsk Polytechnic University and the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMASH) and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) near Moscow.

Smirnov pointed out that almost all cases of treason against scientists developed according to the same scenario: FSB officers searched among the foreign projects of scientists over the past 10-15 years for what “suited them best”.

“[Арестованные] scientists from Novosibirsk have never dealt with the “Dagger”. They were engaged in fundamental research and development. All those who were arrested for hypersonic weapons, they were not close to this weapon,” explained Vladimir Lapygin, a former employee of the National Institute of Internal Affairs and Communications, who was convicted of treason and released in 2020.

Associate Professor of the Department of Oil and Gas Affairs of Tomsk Polytechnic University, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, Vladyslav Galkin, was arrested in the middle of December in the case of treason. Three people were arrested from the Novosibirsk institute: Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev. During his scientific career, Galkin made hundreds of scientific publications, including foreign editions. Zvegintsev was one of the co-authors of both Galkin and Shiplyuk in several publications.

About their persecution of Siberia.Realii wrote in detail here.

All institutes in which the FSB is looking for treason suspects were united by participation in the projects of the seventh framework program of space research grants of the European Union FP7. It was coordinated by the Belgian Von-Karman Institute of Hydrodynamics – including the transfer of data to this institute by judges of Russian scientists.

As the journalist Ivan Safronov, himself convicted of treason, explained, the chain of accused treason is a regular practice of the FSB. He wrote that when investigating a specific case of embezzlement, investigators try to ensure that the accused not only admits guilt, but also testifies against his colleagues.

Because of this practice, at least the ITPM ​​of the SB RAS has distanced itself from any contact and cooperation with foreign institutes and foreign journals and does not study the direction of hypersound. “It is difficult to work in these conditions. It is not so much the restrictions themselves that are difficult, but the lack of specific rules and clear laws. We are waiting for time to arrange everything, we believe in common sense,” said the co-author and colleague at the Galkin Institute on condition of anonymity.

Sentences and deaths

Anatoliy Gubanova and Valery Golubkina from TsAGA were sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony. Sergei Meshcheryakov from TsNIIMASH was sentenced to seven years of probation – he has an oncological disease.

Three scientists accused of treason have died. Vladimir Kudryavtsev from TsNIIMASH, who worked with Maslov from ITPM ​​SB RAS, his colleague Roman Kovalev and head of the laboratory of quantum optical technologies at the Institute of Laser Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Dmitry Kolker. The latter died two days after his detention: he was taken by plane to the Moscow pre-trial detention center straight from the hospital in the fourth stage of pancreatic cancer.

Investigations and trials in relation to the rest are still ongoing.