In the summer of 2020, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, was interrogated as a witness in the case against his adviser Ivan Safronov, who is accused of treason. The information was confirmed on December 15 by lawyer Ivan Pavlov (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation).
Pavlov called Rogozin's testimony "neutral," the REN TV channel notes.
On November 2, Safronov was finally charged with high treason with a new episode - about the transfer abroad of information about the activities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Syria. According to the investigation, in December 2015 Safronov gave political scientist Demuri Voronin information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, which he, in turn, forwarded to representatives of the University of Zurich of Switzerland and the German BND (intelligence). Voronin was detained in Moscow on suspicion of treason in February 2021.
Safronov was detained on July 7, 2020, the same evening the Lefortovo Court of Moscow placed him in custody. Safronov pleaded not guilty and refused a deal with the investigation. It is clarified that the FSB of the Russian Federation suspects him of working for one of the special services of NATO countries.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted on December 10, 2020, the case against Safronov was initiated not for his journalistic activities, but for the information transmitted while working at Roscosmos.
The accused worked as a journalist for Kommersant and Vedomosti. In May 2020, he was appointed advisor to the head of the Roscosmos state Corporation.
