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
At least 41 young men have died in South Africa from complications linked to circumcision procedures performed during annual traditional initiation rites, authorities said, reigniting debate over the practice.
As Switzerland was plunged into mourning, Swiss prosecutors said Saturday they have placed under criminal investigation the two managers of a bar where a blaze on New Year’s Day killed at least 40 people.
Indonesian authorities have intensified the search for a Spanish father and his children missing after a traditional wooden tourist boat sank near Padar Island, off the coast of eastern Indonesia, close to the world-famous Komodo National Park.
Bulgaria has formally consigned its longtime national currency, the lev, to history after entering the euro zone on New Year’s Day, becoming the 21st member of the single-currency bloc despite lingering concerns among citizens that the move could fuel higher prices.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump said Saturday that the United States will temporarily “run” Venezuela after American forces carried out large-scale military strikes in the capital Caracas and detained Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, according to U.S. officials.
At least two people were killed and more than a dozen injured after a powerful earthquake struck southern and central Mexico, briefly halting President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first press conference of the year, officials said Saturday.
Two teenage asylum seekers were shot and killed on New Year’s Day in a park of the Dutch capital’s Nieuw-West (New West) district, raising concerns about tensions within migrant communities and public safety in Amsterdam and across the Netherlands, Dutch police said Friday.