Adviser of Russian politician close to Putin detained on suspicion of treason
Ivan Safronov, information policy adviser of the Head of Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, has been detained on suspicion of treason, reports TASS news agency, citing Roscosmos’ press service. According to TASS, detention is not related to Safronov’s current work.
"The press service of the state corporation Roscosmos reports that today the investigative bodies detained the adviser to the director general of the state corporation "Roscosmos, Safronov I.I.," TASS quoted Roscosmos representatives as saying.
Safronov was charged under Art. 275 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (treason).
"Investigative measures are being carried out at the moment," the ministry said, noting that Roscosmos is providing all assistance to the investigative bodies.
Safronov was detained by members of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Safronov collected and passed classified information to one of NATO's special services, Interfax reports, citing the FSB. This information is related to military cooperation in the defense and security of the Russian Federation, the FSB said.
Safronov was born in Moscow in 1990. In 2010 he graduated from the Higher School of Economics with a degree in journalism. In 2010-2019 he was a correspondent and special correspondent of Kommersant, in 2019-2020 he was a special correspondent of Vedomosti newspaper. Safronov wrote on the topics of military and military-technical cooperation, touched on the problems of the defense and the space industry. In May, Safronov was appointed as an advisor to the head of Roscosmos on information policy.
The TASS report never mentioned the name of the current head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.
The video of the detention was published by the Russian news outlet Life.ru. The video can also be viewed on You tube.
Experts and political analysts have repeatedly called Dmitry Rogozin a person who is part of the close circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the end of August 2018, a drop in pressure was detected in the Soyuz spacecraft which was docked to the International Space Station. The cause of the incident was a crack in the flight compartment. At that time, Rogozin called foreign interference as one of the main causes of damage. According to him, traces "showing the use of a drill" were found on the Soyuz hull, and sabotage by American cosmonauts on the International Space Station was also considered as one of the causes.