Advisor to Roscosmos CEO Safronov arrested in treason case
MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - The Lefortovsky District Court in Moscow has arrested Ivan Safronov, advisor to the CEO of Roscosmos, who was detained in a treason case earlier on Tuesday, an Interfax correspondent reported.
"[I rule] to select arrest through September 6 as a measure of restraint for Safronov," Judge Sergei Ryabtsev said in the ruling on Tuesday.
The judge thus refused to accommodate the motion submitted by the defense asking to extend the period of detention for Safronov by 72 hours for collecting additional evidence in his defense or to select house arrest as the measure of restraint for him.
Safronov is accused of high treason. He denies any wrongdoing.
A spokesperson for the Federal Security Service (FSB) public relations center told Interfax earlier on Tuesday that Safronov is suspected of passing classified information to a NATO special service.
"Acting on orders from a NATO security service, he was gathering and handing over to the security service's representative information about military-technical cooperation and the defense and security of the Russian Federation, which constituted state secrets," the spokesperson said.
Roscosmos, in turn, said that Safronov had no access to state secrets.
Safronov previously worked at the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, covering military-technical cooperation and space programs.