The former colleagues of the arrested I. Safronov are surprised, but the real target of the arrest is D.Rogozin

Safronov, who was arrested just two months after quitting journalism and came to work for Roskoma’s aide in Rogozin, has no doubt that the allegations relate to his media work, though the Kremlin denies it.

The journalist worked for a decade as a defense correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper, and from 2019 to May this year for Vedomosti. Both newspapers have been suppressed by the Kremlin in recent years, and many journalists have left them.

“I will never believe that Vania can transmit or sell state secrets and any information that harms Russia’s interests to foreigners,” said Yelena Chernenko, a former colleague of I. Safronov and one of the heads of Kommersant’s foreign news department.

Could it have been unverified?

The journalist was arrested Tuesday while holding a picket with other means in Moscow at the headquarters of the Federal Security Service.

“It just came to our attention then. He wrote things that the government obviously didn’t like,” added Chernenko.

Alexander Gabuyev, head of the Asia-Pacific program at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, also questions the information provided by the FSB that Safronov shared confidential data with the Czech intelligence services.

“I have known Ivan personally for about 10 years and do not believe the allegations against him. I would like the investigation to be objective and transparent, although it will be difficult,” admitted A. Gabujev.

It is announced that the case of I. Safronov will be heard behind closed doors. The journalist faces up to 20 years in prison.

Other experts suspect that I. Safronov was accidentally detained at this time, that this is a warning sent to other journalists writing about defense and security.

“Rogozin is such a high-ranking official that all his advisers are examined,” said lawyer Vladimir Zerebenkov, representative of the American Paul Whelan, accused of espionage and sentenced in June to 16 years in prison.

“No one would have hired Safronov if his activities had been investigated at the time. This means that the green light for the case had to come on only recently,” added V. Žeberenkovas.

Avoid an orbit with Rogosin

Rogozin himself assured Tuesday that Safronov did not have access to classified information during the two months he worked as an adviser.

But the portal MK.ru, With sources in the Kremlin, he suspects that Rogozin, who previously served as Russia’s ambassador to NATO and is famous for his fiery statements about the West, is the real target.

Saffronov’s arrest is a time bomb placed after Rogozin’s career: the official, the Kremlin, understands this, although he is considered an administrator of President Vladimir Putin.

According to the publication, the regime is upset by D. Rogozin’s promises: no progress has been seen in Roskosma’s activities, but the agency head is still talking about a new space center supposedly completely unnecessary. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on the construction of the Vostochny spaceport.

“Dmitry Olegovich sometimes behaves absurdly. Rather than announcing a new spacecraft, he makes sure the elevators” speak “with Yuri Gagarin’s voice,” and explains how unreliable Elon Musko’s new buildings are, although you have to build something yourself to be able to interpret it that way, “he writes. MK.ru.

It is said in Moscow that the idea of ​​inviting I. Safronov to work as an adviser came to D. Rogozin himself. And some events just before the journalist’s arrest really changed.

On July 2, Rogozin left for the Vostochny spaceport, where he would meet with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, who is responsible for the space industry. However, the latter canceled the visit at the last minute.

Already on July 6, D.Rogozin had to participate in an interview with V.Putin, but he also canceled the meeting and, the next morning, I. Safronov was arrested.

Wrote down MR.ruIt appears that the highest state officials deliberately at this time did not want “to be in the same orbit with Rogozin.”

“Such a timeline of events is unfavorable to Dmitry Olegovich. If his adviser was actually arrested to engage Rogozin, then our former colleague, journalist Ivan Safronov, has become a negotiating tool in the game of the powerful,” writes the Newspaper.

I was no longer a journalist

Russian journalists are now explaining one after another how they are increasingly persecuted.

But this is nothing new and Russian journalists have long known what they are risking, 15 minutes says Marius Laurinavičius, chief analyst at the Vilnius Institute for Political Analysis, as well as the fact that the Kremlin will always say that the repression does not take place.

M. Laurinavičius agrees with the version that I. Safronov’s arrest is in fact a warning or a final sign for D. Rogozin, which is just another battle in the “constant” fight of the Russian clans.

“Safronov cannot be persecuted as a journalist just because he is no longer a journalist.” He is an advisor to one of the still influential figures in the regime, so he cannot be persecuted as a journalist, because that character would defend him, “said the analyst.

According to M. Laurinavičius, I. Safronov probably worked alongside D. Rogozin for a long time, as the latter’s tool: “Journalist Svetlana Prokopjeva (found guilty of” justification of terrorism “on Monday, ed.)

Safronov had been part of the Rogozin clan for many years, his tool for carrying out orders and everything else. Then he became an advisor.

And Safronov is no longer a journalist. These are different things. Also, different clans have different means, and advisers like Rogozin don’t just become themselves. Their relationships are guaranteed to be long-lasting and very resilient.

Safronov had been part of the Rogozin clan for many years, his tool for carrying out orders and everything else. Then he became an advisor.

“It really is aimed at Rogozin: These are clan wars that never end. All those conversations about efficiency or corruption are logical, yes, but such struggles end with the position of someone from another clan.

For Rogozin, this arrest is at least a small sign, and perhaps part of a plan to eliminate him; after all, Putin had to meet him, but he did not meet. In such cases, some pretext is found.

Wasting money, embezzlement, corruption are systemic things that are encouraged in Russia. But if you can show that an actor is not coping, then you find a justification for an attack against a competitor, “explained the expert.

M. Laurinavičius does not want to “theoretically” rule out the possibility of me. Safronov was really spying on the West, that then D. Rogozin would not help him with anything.

“But if it is an ordinary persecution, like Prokopiev, for example, then Safronov as an adviser would be simply inviolable. Journalists in Russia are, of course, persecuted, but Safronov was no longer a journalist,” said the analyst.

D. Rogozin, according to M. Laurinavičius, is the leader of one of the military-industrial complexes and part of the army clans. But it is a clan “not the first step”: “In the annexation of Crimea, he was promoted to the highest league, but did not survive in it.”