Putin “baptizes” scientists and traitors and imprisons them

77-year-old Russian scientist Anatoly Maslov was sentenced in Russia today to 14 years in prison for “treason” for passing secret data to a foreign power.

The judicial system of the St. Petersburg region announced that “the court issued a sentence of 14 years of freedom in a penal colony with a strict regime,” without further clarification of the essence of the case, which remains unclear, as no details regarding the case have been reached. He was classified as secret after his arrest in June 2022.

According to the state-run TASS news agency, he was accused of passing information about Russia’s hypersonic weapons programme, weapons that are supposedly “invincible” and praised by Vladimir Putin.

Kommersant, for its part, claimed that this data was handed over to German intelligence services.

According to Maslov’s lawyer, Olga Denzi, quoted by TASS: The scientist rejects the charges and declares his innocence.

“He said he did nothing wrong or illegal. He devoted his whole life to his family and the national flag.”The lawyer stressed.

He added, “The defense believes that there is nothing wrong with the actions of Maslov, who did not transmit the information attributed to him, and that they do not constitute state secrets.”

Other scientists are also imprisoned in Russia, as part of the crackdown imposed on the country after the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Maslov, who was working in Novosibirsk, Siberia, was arrested in the summer of 2022 at the same time as two other scientists from the same city, Dmitry Kokler, who has since died in prison, and Alexander Sipylyuk, who has not yet been tried.

In the spring of 2023, a fourth scientist from Novosibirsk, Valery Zvigenshev, was arrested.

Maslov, Zvigenchev and Syplyuk worked at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Engineering in this Siberian city famous for its research institutes. The late Kuchler worked at the Institute of Laser Physics.

Before the conflict in Ukraine began, pressure on scientists in Russia doubled, as intelligence agencies viewed international cooperation programs with suspicion.