The Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported that the scientist Valery Zvegintsev is suspected of treason

Employees of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. S.A. Khristianovich of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ITAM SB RAS) published open letter with a call to save Russian aerodynamic science “from the impending collapse”. They announced the ongoing criminal prosecution of scientists in the country. The letter says that Valery Zvegintsev, the chief researcher of ITAM SB RAS, was detained on suspicion of treason, which was not previously reported.

“Over the past year, three outstanding aerodynamic scientists of our institute – Anatoly Alexandrovich Maslov, Alexander Nikolaevich Shiplyuk and Valery Ivanovich Zvegintsev – were arrested on suspicion of committing a crime under the most severe article of the criminal code – “high treason” (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) … We know each of them as a patriot and a decent person who is not capable of doing what the investigating authorities suspect them of,” the letter says.

Its authors note that the materials of all three cases are closed from the public, but, according to information from open sources, the cause of the cases was “delivering reports at international seminars and conferences, publishing articles in high-ranking journals, participation in international scientific projects.” In addition, all materials of scientists were checked “for the presence of information of limited access in them, and such information was not found in them,” the letter says. Nevertheless, “the investigating authorities rely on a different opinion as an expert”, and the names of their experts are not disclosed, the scientists emphasize.

“The most terrible thing in this situation is the influence of the created atmosphere on the scientific youth. Even now, the best students refuse to come to work with us, and our best young employees are leaving science… Dear colleagues and friends, citizens of Russia, we ask you for help! Please help us sort out the situation with our arrested colleagues. We are confident in their innocence. Scientific organizations and their employees need a clear understanding, based on the law, where the border lies between work for the good of the Motherland and treason,” the appeal says.

An unnamed source in the SB RAS told TASS that Valery Zvegintsev was detained about three weeks ago. According to him, now the man is under house arrest. The reason for suspicion of treason was the publication of an article on gas dynamics in an Iranian journal. As the interlocutor of the agency clarified, before publication, the material passed two examinations on possible secrecy. The investigating authorities did not comment on the alleged arrest of the scientist.

In the summer of 2022, three physicists from the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok were arrested on suspicion of treason — Director of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Shiplyuk, Chief Researcher of the same Institute Anatoly Maslov and Head of the Laboratory of Quantum Optical Technologies of Novosibirsk State University, Researcher of the Institute of Laser Physics of the Siberian Branch RAS Dmitry Kolker. Their cases are unrelated. Kolker was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, and on the third day after his arrest, the scientist died in a Moscow hospital. Maslov, 76, is now in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow. He is suspected of providing data that is a state secret. According to one version, classified information is associated with hypersound. The case was investigated by the central apparatus of the FSB, to consider it will court in Saint Petersburg.

Laura Keffer