A Russian court today sentenced physicist Alexander Sipliuk – director of a leading Siberian scientific institute – to 15 years in prison on charges of treason, in the latest of several cases against experts who work in the scientific field supporting Russia’s development of hypersonic missiles .

The 57-year-old Sipliuk was arrested in August 2022 while two of his colleagues, Anatoly Maslov and Valery Zveginchev, are also being held on suspicion of treason. Masloff, 78, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in May.

Two American scientists, who know Maslov and Sipliuk, told Reuters last year that the arrested Russians were working on part of the work required to build a hypersonic missile, a process that also involves integrating sensors, navigation systems, and propulsion.

His trial was held behind closed doors, as is customary in treason trials in Russia.

Sipliuk’s lawyer has not yet responded to a Reuters request asking if the scientist plans to appeal the court’s decision, which was reported by Russian news agencies.

“Suspicious” scientists involved in the development of hypersonic missiles

Commenting on the case of Sipliuk and his colleagues last May, the Kremlin said the men faced “very serious charges”, adding that the matter was related to the security services.

Russia says it is a world leader in hypersonic missiles, which are state-of-the-art weapons capable of carrying warheads at up to ten times the speed of sound to penetrate air defense systems.

The three scientists from the Kristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Engineering (ITAM) in Novosibirsk are among 12 scientists researching the technology who have been charged with treason by Russia in recent years.

Two people familiar with Sipliuk’s case told Reuters last May that the ITAM director was suspected of handing over classified material to a scientific conference in China in 2017.

The sources said Sipliuk maintains his innocence and insisted the information in question was not classified and was freely available online.

Several other Russian scientists arrested on treason charges have also been accused of passing secrets to Beijing, according to state media.

The Sipliuk institute, housed on the premises of the Akademgorodok scientific center near the city of Novosibirsk, says on its website that it is listed as part of Russia’s military-industrial complex.