Russian scientist accused of high treason and passing classified information to Belgium
Viktor Kudryavtsev, a leading researcher with TsNIIMash (Russian rocket and spacecraft scientific center), was arrested on a charge of high treason. He is suspected of passing secret data to a foreign scientific organization, the Belgian von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, as reported by RBC news agency with reference to Kudryavtsev’s lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov.
“The case is not about a country but about an organization TsNIIMash collaborated with – the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics. There was an agreement between them, which was approved at the level of the Russian government,” Smirnov said.
The agency notes that a few months ago, FSB officers questioned Vladimir Lapygin, scientist and the boss of Kudryavtsev, who is now serving his sentence in a high treason case. Formally, the cases of Kudryavtsev and Lapygin are not related.
The fact that the former chief of Kudryavtsev communicated with FSB officers was featured in the security report of the special security service which was also given to the defense of Kudryavtse. This report is the only document the investigators used to justify the need for Kudryavtsev’s arrest, said the lawyer.
“It follows from this report that a total of several dozen people were questioned. Apparently, everybody who has ever worked with Kudryavtsev. The youngest of them was born in 1943,” said the lawyer.