Director of one of its leading scientific institutes Russia arrested on suspicion of treason along with two other specialists in hypersonic missile technology, accused of passing secrets Chinatwo sources familiar with the case told Reuters.

Sources said Alexander Sipluk, head of the Khristianovich Institute for Theoretical and Applied Engineering (ITAM), is suspected of handing over classified materials to China as part of a scientific conference in 2017.

The 56-year-old denies the allegations and insists the information in question was unclassified and existed on the Internet, according to sources not named by Reuters.

“He is convinced that the information was not classified and is confident in his innocence,” one of the sources said.

Similar incidents

The nature of the charges against Sipluk, who was arrested in August 2022, was not previously reported. The case of the 56-year-old man is the latest in a series of arrests of Russian scientists accused of passing state secrets to Beijing.

Asked about the accusations leveled against ITAM scientists, as well as similar arrests in the past, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said intelligence agencies are looking for possible cases of “treason.”

“This is a very important effort,” he added. “It never stops and it’s almost impossible to talk about any trends right now.”

Russia’s FSB intelligence agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in response to a question about allegations that Beijing is persecuting Russian scientists to gain access to classified research, said that Sino-Russian relations are based on “non-identification, non-conflict and non-targeting of third parties.” “parts”.

The case in question is “completely different from what some intelligence and military alliances represent, based on their Cold War mentality,” the Chinese ministry added.

Moscow on the alert

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia is the world leader in hypersonic missiles.

It is a powerful weapon capable of delivering payloads up to 10 times the speed of sound to destroy air defense systems.

The case of the ITAM scientists, as well as previous incidents, show that Moscow is wary of leaking technological information, even to its ally China, on whose political and commercial support it has increasingly relied since the invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago.

^{Source: Reuters.}