MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian court said on Monday it had sentenced a scientist, Valery Golubkin, to 12 years in jail for treason after convicting him of handing over state secrets to “representatives of foreign organisations”.
Golubkin had worked in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Aerohydromechanics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. The court provided no further details on the case.
Golubkin was detained in late 2020 on suspicion of handing over secrets to an unnamed NATO country. His lawyer said at the time that Golubkin denied the charges against him.
A number of Russian scientists have been arrested and charged with treason in recent years on suspicion of passing sensitive material to foreigners.
Critics of the Kremlin say the arrests sometimes stem from unfounded paranoia, something the authorities deny.
A criminal case was opened earlier this month against one of three Russian hypersonic missile scientists arrested on suspicion of treason.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Gareth JonesEditing by Andrew Osborn)
