Russia accused the scientist of treason for passing secrets to China

(Dan Tri) – Russia accused the country’s top scientist of treason for leaking national secrets to China.

President of the Russian Academy of Arctic Sciences Valery Mitko (Photo: Moscow Times)

Valery Mitko, President of the Russian Academy of Arctic Sciences, has been under house arrest since Russian authorities accused him of treason in February. Mr. Mitko, one of Russia’s top scientists,

Investigators said Mr. Mitko, 78, and a visiting professor at China’s Dalian Maritime University exchanged confidential information with special agencies in China.

According to Ivan Pavlov, Mr. Mitko’s lawyer, his client usually goes to China twice a year to lecture as a visiting lecturer and does not share state secrets with the Chinese government.

Lawyer Pavlov confirmed that Mr. Mitko brought documents for his lecture to China, but these documents only contained academic information.

“There are no state secrets here.

According to a source from the Interfax news agency, Mr. Mitko is accused of providing information about submarine detection methods to China.

Investigators from the Russian Federal Security Service also accused Mr. Mitko, an expert in hydroacoustics, of smuggling information about submarine detection technology to China in exchange for payments.

Many Russian scientists have been arrested and charged with treason in recent years for smuggling sensitive documents to foreign countries.

Russia is stepping up activities in the Arctic and increasing its military presence there.

Before Mr. Mitko, space researcher Vladimir Lapygin, 79 years old, was also sentenced to 7 years in prison in 2016, after being convicted of smuggling secret information about supersonic aircraft to China.

Another Russian space researcher, Viktor Kudryavtsev, was also charged in 2018 for revealing state secrets to a Belgian scientific institute.

Physics researcher Valentin Danilov also served eight years in prison after being convicted of spying for China in 2004.

“This is a campaign targeting scientists.

The arrests of scientists considered spies have exposed the hidden competition between Russia and China, even as the two countries begin to develop a strategic partnership to deal with growing tensions.

Success

According to SCMP