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Roscosmos head advisor’s indictment has no data on Czech intelligence payment

According to defense attorney Ivan Pavlov, Safronov will soon be interrogated as the defendant

Ivan Safronov Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Ivan Safronov

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The indictment of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency Ivan Safronov does not mention any information regarding remunerations he could have received for handing over confidential data to the foreign intelligence service, Safronov’s defense attorney Ivan Pavlov told TASS.

"The text of the [indictment] order does not contain any data whether Safronov received remunerations from the Czech intelligence service or any data on what he handed over specifically, when it happened or any other specific facts," the attorney pointed out.

According to him, Safronov will soon be interrogated as the defendant. The journalist is facing indictment on the count of high treason (Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code) and pleaded not guilty.

Ivan Safronov, an advisor to the Roscosmos chief, was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on July 7 on suspicion of treason. Moscow’s Lefortovo court placed him in custody until September 6. Safronov is facing up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. The FSB says that Safronov was recruited in 2012 and in 2017 he provided the Czech intelligence agencies with information about Russian arms supplies to the Middle East and Africa. The information was later passed on to the US counterparts, according to the case materials.

He worked for Kommersant newspaper until May 2019, in July 2019 he joined Vedomosti. Safronov was employed as the Roscosmos advisor on June 18, 2020.

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