Arrested Roscosmos advisor Safronov suspected of having coronavirus - public monitoring commission
MOSCOW. July 27 (Interfax) - The Roscosmos chief's advisor and a former journalist for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, Ivan Safronov, has been isolated at the Lefortovo detention facility with suspected coronavirus, Eva Merkacheva, a member of the public monitoring commission said.
"Safronov has been isolated in a separate cell at Lefortovo with suspected coronavirus," Merkacheva told Interfax on Monday.
Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court arrested Safronov for two months on suspicion of high treason on July 7.
According to his defense lawyers, investigators believe that Safronov, who was recruited by a Czech special service in 2012, provided its official in 2017 with secret information on supplies of weapons and the Russian Armed Forces' actions in the countries of Africa and the Middle East. Investigators insist that the end recipient of the secret information was the United States.
Safronov denies any wrongdoing and believes his criminal case is related to his journalistic work.
Before his job at Roscosmos, Safronov worked as a journalist for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, specializing, in particular, in defense industry issues.