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
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice by paying tribute at war memorials and cemeteries, accompanied for the first time by his daughter, Ju Ae, in a move that analysts say further underscores her increasingly prominent public role.
President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran is seeking negotiations after two weeks of sustained American airstrikes, portraying Tehran’s diplomatic outreach as evidence that the U.S. military campaign has forced the Islamic regime back to the bargaining table.
President Donald Trump and three Republican senators are pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep the chamber in session through August until lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act, escalating a growing dispute over one of the president’s top election-integrity priorities.
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Morocco was naming a major Atlantic expressway in his honor, drawing renewed attention to a sweeping infrastructure project linking the kingdom’s southern regions with the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington on Monday ahead of a closely watched meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying Iran and efforts to expand regional peace agreements would be at the center of the discussions. Netanyahu left Israel from Nevatim Airbase after an unexplained delay under heightened security precautions.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Damascus is seeking a security agreement with Israel that could eventually open the door to broader peace talks, declaring that his government has no interest in entering another military confrontation with the Jewish state.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has openly called for continued “jihad and resistance” against Israel and the United States while declaring the defense of Hezbollah a strategic obligation of the Islamic Republic.