Ivan Safronov was shown a political scientist – Newspaper Kommersant No. 201 (7163) from 03.11.2021

by time news

Former special correspondent of Kommersant and Vedomosti, adviser to the head of Roscosmos, Ivan Safronov, is accused of cooperation not only with Czech, but also with German intelligence. According to new data from the FSB, the journalist for $ 248 transferred information about the activities of the Russian army in Syria, and this was done through the political scientist Demuri Voronin, who has Russian and German citizenship. The latter pleaded guilty and testified. Ivan Safronov categorically denies the accusation, claiming that he was engaged exclusively in journalistic activities, and he drew information only from open sources, without access to classified data.

On Monday, his lawyers reported about the change in the “configuration of the charge” of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), recently presented to Ivan Safronov in the final version. However, his defender Ivan Pavlov, who himself came under criminal prosecution in the course of representing the interests of his client and was forced to leave for Georgia some time ago, was able to reveal the details only on Tuesday. According to him, the final document not only corrected the initial accusation of cooperation with Czech intelligence and the transfer of data on the defense capability of the Russian army and a number of aspects of its activities to its representatives in 2017, but also a new episode appeared.

In the first case, we are talking, according to Kommersant, about a conversation with a journalist from the Czech Republic Martin Larish. Ivan Safronov never concealed that they had really known each other since 2012, but, according to him, there was nothing reprehensible in this, even when Mr. Larish became chairman and co-founder of the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Security Threats, which, according to the Russian special services, , works closely with Czech intelligence. Earlier, as reported by “Kommersant”, his name has already sounded more than once in connection with the case of Ivan Safronov, but his participation has acquired a specific appearance only a few days ago. At the same time, it turned out that the second criminal episode, which the senior investigator for especially important cases of the FSB Directorate, Colonel Alexander Chaban, incriminated Ivan Safronov, concerns an even earlier period – December 2015.

Then, according to the investigation, Ivan Safronov, being a journalist, gave political scientist Demuri Voronin some information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, which he, in turn, forwarded to representatives of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the German foreign intelligence service, which is under the control of the Federal Chancellor of the country. …

According to the FSB, the transmitted information could be used to analyze the actions of Russian troops in Syria.

The lawyer claims that, according to the prosecution, the intermediary Voronin paid Mr. Safronov a remuneration of $ 248 for this information.

“We do not yet understand where such a strange amount came from,” Mr. Pavlov told Kommersant, noting that the clue is clearly in the materials of the criminal case and will become known to his colleagues only after studying them.

According to some reports, in the case of the accusation of cooperation with the Czech intelligence, a selfish motive is also mentioned, the amount of the “remuneration” is many times greater, but so far it has not been disclosed.

At the same time, according to unconfirmed information, an examination was carried out within the framework of the investigation, which established that the information transferred by the former journalist abroad was not used by him in publications, and was not published in other countries. Thus, the investigation is trying to refute the version of Mr. Safronov that he was exclusively engaged in journalistic activities.

It should be noted that Demuri Voronin himself, who has dual citizenship of Russia and Germany, a graduate of the Friedrich Schiller State University in Jena with a master’s degree in political science and international relations, was arrested by the Lefortovo court in the winter of this year, again on charges of treason. After that, the political scientist, as noted by his representatives, pleaded guilty and began to actively cooperate with the FSB. Many associated his case with the investigation of Ivan Safronov, but until recently all this had no official confirmation.

As Kommersant previously reported, the indictment against Ivan Safronov for this episode came as a complete surprise to his lawyers, who in such a situation were deprived of the opportunity to defend their client in full. “I can only inform you that Ivan Safronov completely denies guilt on all the charges brought against him,” another lawyer of the ex-journalist Dmitry Talantov told Kommersant, noting that he could not give more detailed comments because of the secrecy of the case and the subscriptions given to him. …

As the lawyers assume, familiarization with the materials of the criminal case, which has only about 20 volumes, may take a long time, since the defenders are prohibited not only from copying documents, but even making extracts of unclassified data. As a result, according to the preliminary estimates of the defense, it will be possible to finish reading the criminal case closer to the spring of next year, especially since the investigator Alexander Chaban allegedly promised not to limit lawyers in acquaintance through the court.

Sergey Sergeev

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