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Roskosmos said the investigation was ongoing and that he was “fully cooperating with investigators.”
According to the agency, I. Safronov’s arrest is unrelated to his current job. He began working as an information policy adviser for the Roskosma chief in May.
Safronov was detained at his home by several officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
A video released by the FSB shows that detainee I. Safronov appeared disturbed. They searched the man and confiscated his Roskosma employee’s card, mask, and gloves.
I. Safronov is believed to have been brought to the FSB’s investigation department.
According to the FSB, I. Safronov “in the course of the task of one of NATO’s special services, collected and transmitted to his representative state secret data on military-technical, defense and security cooperation of the Russian Federation.”
Video from the camera: задержание бывшего журналиста издания “Коммерсант” и действующего советника главы Роск
Сафронов выходит из дома, направляется к ожидающему его автомобилю, в этот момент к е мему содбета pic.twitter.com/CukNM5Xcb1
– trick (@bazabazon) July 7, 2020
A source told Interfax news agency that Safronov’s arrest may be related to his previous work as a journalist. According to the source, the man employed by Roskosmos had not received a permit to work with state secrets.
Safronov previously worked for the independent newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti, where he wrote about Russian politics, the military and space programs.
In 2019 Kommersant removed an article from its portal about the handover of Russian fighters to Egypt when the post was threatened with administrative responsibility for revealing state secrets. The co-author of that text was I. Safronov,
He and another colleague were forced to resign from Kommersant last May over an article about the possible resignation of the speaker of the country’s upper house of parliament.
An entire chain from another editorial team resigned in support of the dismissed colleagues.
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