MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has assured the journalistic community that the treason case of space agency official Ivan Safronov has nothing to do with his previous work as a reporter.
"The criminal act that Safronov I.I. is charged with is unrelated to his professional journalistic activity," the FSB's public relations center said in response to the Russian Union of Journalists' inquiry.
Safronov, who is also a former military journalist, was detained on July 7 and placed in custody until September 6 on the same day. According to the FSB, Safronov is suspected of handing classified information about Russia's defense sector to a special service of a NATO country.
The legal defense has said that its client is suspected of passing information about Russia's arms deliveries to Africa to Czech special services since 2012, with the United States claimed to be the end recipient of the information. Safronov denies his guilt.
Roscosmos, where the ex-journalist has been employed as an adviser since May, says that the detention was not related to his work for the state space agency.
