Putin pursues scientist behind ‘unique’ hypersonic missile

At least 12 Russian scientists have reportedly been detained in politically motivated arrests related to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s much-touted hypersonic missile program. Three people have died since the arrest.

Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, who is representing the defendants, told the news agency BBC Russia that FSB officials said all accusations had been reported to President Putin, and that the arrests show that Russia’s missile technology is being cornered. He said that it was a thing. Smirnov said these incidents were “aimed to show that Russian missiles are the best and that Russia is trying to steal it.”

In March 2018, President Putin boasted to Russian lawmakers about Moscow’s hypersonic missile program. He described the hardware as a “superweapon”, saying it would be faster and more agile than standard offerings and would be harder to intercept by missile defense systems. newsweek We contacted the Kremlin via email for comment.

These include the Kh-24 Kinzhal (“dagger”), which the Russian military has regularly used to attack urban infrastructure in full-scale invasions of Ukraine.

However, any association with the program appears to carry high risks, with at least 12 scientists accused of transferring secrets about the program to other countries, BBC Russian Broadcasting reported. The report said those detained were not even involved in weapons development, but were simply working on basic science research with foreign partners.

Those arrested worked at the Central Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMash) in the Moscow region. Central Institute of Aerohydrodynamics (TsAGI) in the Russian capital. The same goes for the Kristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITPM) in Siberia.

ITPM director Alexander Shiplyuk and researchers Anatoly Maslov and Valery Zvegintsev were arrested in May 2023 on suspicion of leaking secrets to China.

According to Reuters, Shipuluk insisted that the information in question was not classified and was freely available online. Following their arrest, colleagues published an open letter saying the incident could damage Russian science.

Zvegintsev established a high-speed aerodynamics laboratory within the institute. He collaborated with his former colleague and associate professor at Tomsk Technical University Vladislav Galkin, whose arrest was reported in December 2023.

Major Russian news agency TASS reported that the treason incident may be related to a 2021 article in an Iranian scientific journal.

Mr. Maslov, Mr. Zvegintsev, Mr. Shiplyuk, Mr. TsAGI and Mr. TsNIIMash were participants in the European Union’s FP7 program, which allocates funds for space research.

Meanwhile, in October 2023, TsAGI physicist Anatoly Gubanov was sentenced to 12 years in prison in a high-security colony. He was arrested in April 2021 and denied charges of passing materials to a colleague in the Netherlands who helped develop the world’s first civilian hypersonic airliner, HEXAFLY-INT.

His colleague Valery Golubkin was also arrested, but denied the charges. However, in June 2023, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Tunimash physicist Vladimir Kudryavtsev was charged with treason, but the 78-year-old died of cancer-related complications before he could stand trial, Russian media outlet RBC reported.

Another TsNIIMash scientist, Roman Kovalev, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2020, but was released due to poor health and died of cancer in April 2022, state news agency Interfax reported. Dmitry Kolker, head of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also passed away.

BBC Russia anonymously reported that six other employees at the facility have also been charged with treason.