By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A prominent Russian physicist began serving a lengthy prison sentence as part of a more extensive crackdown on scientists allegedly aiding Ukraine and threatening Russia’s security.
Worthy News learned that in a trial reminiscent of the Soviet era, the Moscow city court found Alexander Shiplyuk, the 57-year-old director of a top Siberian science institute, guilty of “state treason” after a trial held behind closed doors.
He was sentenced to 15 years on “treason” charges in the latest prison term for a scientist working on the country’s hypersonic missile program.
Well-informed sources said Thursday that over a dozen senior Russian scientists have been detained in recent years.
At least three, including Shiplyuk, worked at the prestigious Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk, Siberia’s largest city and a central scientific.
Experts have said the trials indicate a modern “spy mania” and growing paranoia among Russian political elites regarding its military production following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
CLASSIFIED INFO
The Russian independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported that Shiplyuk was suspected of sharing classified information at a scientific conference in China in 2017.
Shiplyuk denied the allegations, saying the information he presented was publicly available in open sources.
In May, Russia sentenced Anatoly Maslov, a 78-year-old professor of aerodynamics at the same institute and a colleague of Shiplyuk, to 14 years in prison on treason charges.
Russian media said he was accused of passing classified data related to Russia’s hypersonic missile program to German intelligence.
This was embarrassing for Russia, which has promoted itself as a world leader in hypersonic missiles, cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air defense systems.
“Russia’s loose definition of espionage makes it easy to bring cases against scientists,” observed journalist Pjotr Sauer in The Guardian newspaper.
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Accusations include “their participation in international projects, even those initiated long before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
There have already been instances of scientists dying in pre-trial detention.
In October 2022, Valery Mitko, an 81-year-old Russian scientist arrested on high treason charges, died while under house arrest after several heart attacks.
Last year, Dmitry Kolker, 54, the director of the Laboratory of Quantum Optics at Novosibirsk State University, who was being held in a spy investigation, died two days after his arrest while being treated in a hospital for stage 4 cancer.
More deaths behind bars are expected as the lengthy sentences mean the accused experts could spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
President Donald Trump said Sunday he will refuse to sign any additional legislation until Congress passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, escalating pressure on lawmakers to advance the voter-identification bill that has stalled in the Senate.
Authorities say a suspect allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before throwing an improvised explosive device during a protest near Gracie Mansion, triggering a major investigation involving federal and local law enforcement.
The Israeli military said Sunday that an overnight strike in Beirut killed five senior liaison officials connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and Hezbollah, dealing what it described as a significant blow to coordination between the Iranian regime and its Lebanese proxy.
Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts announced Sunday that Mojtaba Khamenei has been selected as the country’s new supreme leader, replacing his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the opening phase of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
The number of missiles launched by Iran has dropped by roughly 90% since the opening day of the war, according to the commander of U.S. Central Command, as American and Israeli forces establish near-total aerial dominance over the country.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump was weighing deploying special forces to seize Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium as Israel expanded strikes on targets in Iran and Lebanon, escalating the war in the Middle East that has already left more than 1,500 people dead across the region, officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at Dover Air Force Base in the U.S. state of Delaware on Saturday to receive the remains of six American soldiers killed during the first days of combat operations linked to U.S. strikes on Iran, as tensions across the Middle East continued to escalate.