Russia this week arrested at least two scientists accused of sharing state secrets. The information is from Tass, Russia’s largest news agency. The two scientists are specialists in physics and work in Novosibirsk, a Siberian city in the south of the country. They could face up to 20 years in prison if the leaks are confirmed.
The latest detainee was Dmitri Kolker, a doctor of physics and mathematics from Novosibirsk State University. According to anonymous sources heard by the agency, he is accused of collaborating with China’s security services – Beijing and Moscow have intensified their diplomatic relations, in the wake of Western sanctions on Russia.
The educational institution’s website says he is head of the quantum optical technologies laboratory and is the author of 112 scientific papers and three patents. Kolker also works in partnership with institutes in Germany and France. He was arrested last Thursday (30).
Kolker’s family confirmed the arrest in social media statements. His son, Maxim, said that Dmitri attended lectures to students at an international conference in China.
According to him, the exhibitions were certified by the FSB, the Russian internal security service, one of the members of the KGB – the secret service of the Soviet Union. “FSB officials banned him from speaking in English,” Maxim told a local news website.
There are no details on what information was shared with the Chinese. Kolker was detained in a Moscow penitentiary. After the arrest, the scientist’s son said he was being treated for advanced cancer and was said to have been approached by Russian officials when he was in hospital.
“They took a sick man, who was practically dying and feeding through a tube into his vein, to a private hospital,” Maxim said. A day after the arrest, the Novosibirsk court of justice ordered the scientist to be held until the end of August, pending trial.
On Tuesday, Russian officials also arrested Anatoli Maslov, the chief scientist at a mechanical institute. He is accused of leaking data on hypersonic technology. In this case, however, there are no details of who would have received the information. It is uncertain whether the leak was linked to military equipment.
According to Tass, Maslov is known for his research on viscosity, a term that describes the resistance to flow of a fluid. He is also a member of the Russian national committees of applied theoretical mechanics and mechanical engineering.
Several Russian scientists have been arrested and charged with treason in recent years for allegedly passing sensitive material to foreigners. Kremlin critics, on the other hand, say arrests are often the result of accusations without evidence.
