MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. Russian scientist Valery Golubkin has been accused of passing reports on his work to the coordinator of the HEXAFLY-INT hypersonic liner project Johan Stilant. His actions were considered high treason according to an investigation, the scientist's attorney Ivan Pavlov reported.

"According to the investigation, in November 2018, under the instructions of his boss, Golubkin handed over reports on his work to the HEXAFLY-INT project’s coordinator Johan Stilant (ESA-ESTEC). He did not collect information for these reports by himself, but assisted in drawing them up. The defense believes that Golubkin is not guilty of passing the reports, since he did it following the order of his immediate supervisor. The information in the reports only concerned HEXAFLY-INT," the lawyer stressed.

According to him, the case file, which was available to lawyers for review, mentioned the report of specialists from Roscosmos, the Makeyev Design Bureau and the Mozhaysky's Military-Space Academy. The specialists had to answer the question of whether the materials provided to them for analysis contain classified information. "The report was drawn up a few months before the arrest of Anatoly Gubanov (Golubkin's colleague and co-author of a scientific article on supersonic speeds - TASS) in the summer of 2020. The defense did not see the report itself, but drawing up such a document before filing a criminal proceeding is a common practice in treason cases," Pavlov added. "The defense insists that there is no corpus delicti in Golubkin’s actions. He doesn’t plead guilty."

Earlier, he reported that FSB officers consider Golubkin’s participation treasonous in an official international project under the contract between MIPT and the European Institute where on the instructions of his boss he sent reports on the work fulfilled. Permits were obtained for all these reports, featuring the absence of secretive information in them.

The case refers to the HEXAFLY-INT (High-Speed Experimental FLY Vehicles) project dedicated to the research of a hydrogen-fueled passenger aircraft capable of flying at high speeds. The project kicked off in 2014 and was completed in 2019, a law enforcement source told TASS.

Valery Golubkin is a theoretical physicist, professor, employee of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), one of the most well-known specialists in the field of hypersound. In April 2021, he was charged with high treason.