Safronov’s lawyer said that the Russian secret service accused former journalist Ivan Safronov of selling information about Russia’s military operations in Syria to a political analyst for $248, which they then passed on to the German intelligence services.
The lawyer Ivan Pavlov had a rare glimpse of the classified investigation of Safronov. He said that Syria-related charges have been added to the treason case against him, and his supporters called it a campaign to intimidate journalists. a part of.
Pavlov said that the allegations alleged that Safronov sold the information in 2015 to political analyst Dmuri Voronin, who in turn passed it on to the German BND foreign intelligence agency and a Swiss university. .
“According to the charges, Voronin paid him US$248 in damages,” the lawyer wrote on social media, adding that Russian journalists may be charged with treason for their work.
Safronov is a former defense journalist who later served as an assistant to the head of the Russian Space Agency. He was arrested last year. If convicted, he will face up to 20 years in prison. He denied wrongdoing.
Russian media reported on Monday (November 1) that the investigation has been completed. The FSB intelligence department did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, while BND declined to comment.
The main allegation against Safronov is that he passed on to the Czech Republic in 2017 military secrets concerning Russia’s arms shipments to the Middle East and Africa.
Nearly 100,000 people signed an online petition accusing the authorities of forging evidence of Safronov’s guilt under the cover of state secrets surrounding the case, which the Kremlin denied.
Pavlov was one of the team of lawyers defending Safronov. After being under criminal investigation for disclosing confidential information about the case, he fled Russia and moved to Georgia in September.
Voronin, a political analyst with Russian and German citizenship, was arrested in Moscow on charges of treason in February. His lawyer Maria Orlova denied that these were related to Safronov’s case and told Reuters that Voronin had not pleaded guilty and refused to testify.
