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Russia: Accuses former journalist of high treason

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Russia: Accuses former journalist of high treason

Russia's foreign intelligence service has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia's foreign intelligence service have been made more than once.

Safronov's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, said the Syria-related charge had been added to the case against him for high treason, and his supporters said it was part of a campaign to intimidate journalists.

Pavlov said the indictment alleges that Safronov sold the information in 2015 to political analyst Demuri Varonin, who in turn passed it on to Germany's BND intelligence service and a Swiss university.

“According to the indictment, Baronin paid him $ 248 in damages,” his lawyer wrote on social media, saying that journalists in Russia could be charged with treason just because they did their job.

Safronov, a former journalist covering the Defense Ministry who later worked as an adviser to the head of Russia's Roskosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, was arrested last year and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He denies having committed a crime.

Russian media reported Monday that the investigation was complete. The Federal Security Service (FSB) did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment, while the German BND declined to comment.

The main accusation against Safronov is that in 2017 he handed over military secrets to the Czech Republic regarding Russian arms deliveries to the Middle East and Africa.

Nearly 100,000 people have signed an online petition accusing authorities of fabricating false evidence of Safronov's guilt under the pretext of state secrecy surrounding the case, which the Kremlin has denied.

Pavlov, one of a group of lawyers defending Safronov, fled Russia and has been living in Georgia since September after being prosecuted for allegedly leaking classified information about the case.

Russian-German political analyst Baronin was arrested in Moscow in February on charges of high treason. Maria Orlova, his lawyer, denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Safronov have been made more than once.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

Source: politis.com.cy

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