The lawyer of the former journalist of “Kommersant” and “Vedomosti” and ex-adviser to the head of “Roscosmos” Ivan Safronov announced a new final charge brought against his client just before the end of the investigation. A new episode appeared in the Safronov case, wrote Ivan Pavlov on Tuesday, November 2, on the Telegram channel.
“According to the investigation, in December 2015, Safronov 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 BND,” Pavlov said. The FSB believes that “the information provided could have been used to analyze the actions of Russian troops in Syria” and that Safronov received $ 248 from Voronin for this information, the lawyer wrote further.
Pavlov: Journalism is becoming a dangerous profession
Pavlov also noted that Demuri Voronin, who has Russian and German citizenship and collaborated with dozens of Russian political scientists and journalists, was arrested in February 2021 on charges of high treason and could give confessions that were beneficial to the investigation.
“Journalists and political scientists, following scientists, entrepreneurs and the military, risk adding to the list of“ dangerous professions ”whose representatives can be accused of treason just for doing their job. This is pure espionage. In this case, a meeting with a foreign colleague can be considered recruitment, a joint investigation – an espionage mission, and correspondence in a messenger – receiving instructions from the special services, “Pavlov wrote.
The case of Ivan Safronov
Ivan Safronov was detained on July 7, 2020. He was charged with high treason, the maximum punishment under this article is 20 years in prison. The investigation claims that in 2012, Safronov was recruited by Czech intelligence, and in 2017 he transferred some secret information to the Czech special services. In turn, the defense believes that Ivan Safronov is being prosecuted for his journalistic activities.
The Russian authorities deny this. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Safronov was being persecuted “not for his journalistic activities,” he was accused of “espionage, treason.” “The biggest sin that we have is betrayal. Leaving closed information to a foreign special service is a betrayal,” Putin said.
Ivan Safronov became an advisor to the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin in May 2020. Prior to that, he worked for Kommersant and Vedomosti, specializing in the military-industrial complex and the space industry in Russia. About 230 journalists, politicians and public figures vouched for Safronov. On November 1, it became known about the completion of the investigation into the Safronov case.
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