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 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Evangelical Christian backing for Israel is “more vital than ever” as the Jewish state confronts a surge of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism worldwide, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a visiting delegation of Christian leaders this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 29 to determine the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire plan, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Monday during an online briefing.
Some 100 students have been rescued, and about 50 others escaped following Nigeria’s largest Christian school kidnappings in recent years, several sources confirmed Wednesday.
Britain is facing calls for stronger safeguards on the planned use of facial recognition cameras across the country after the Home Office admitted the system is more likely to incorrectly identify black and Asian people than their white counterparts.
Indonesia’s capital was plunged into mourning late Tuesday after at least 22 people, including a pregnant woman, were confirmed dead when a massive fire swept through a seven-story office building in central Jakarta.
In a major victory for religious liberty and parental rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court ruling that had upheld New York State’s strict vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, directing the appeals court to reconsider the case under newly strengthened constitutional protections.
A Hindu nonprofit organization is moving forward with plans to construct a massive 155-foot Hindu idol of Lord Murugan in rural Chatham County—an enormous structure that, once completed, would stand taller than the Statue of Liberty’s figure.