Russian Scientist Accused of Leaking Top Secret Data to the West Arrested

Russia’s Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Russian scientist Anatoly Gubanov on suspicion of high treason for allegedly handing over classified data to the West.

Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court on December 3 ruled to arrest Gubanov until February 2, 2021 suspected of committing a crime stipulated by Article 275 of Russia’s Criminal Code (High Treason). If convicted of leaking secret aviation development data, Gubanov may face up to 20 years in prison, TASS reported.

Gubanov has been working at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) since 1979 and heads one of the sections at NIO-2 (the department of aircraft and rocket aerodynamics). He deals with high-speed aircraft. 

He has worked on the HEXAFLY-INT (High-speed EXperimental FLY Vehicles-INTernational) Project with Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Australia. Launched in 2014, the project aims to develop a civil hypersonic airliner running on Hydrogen fuel capable of cruising at speeds of Mach 7-8. The official is also an expert on supersonic solid rocket engines.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported that his primary interest was in “the design of promising missiles, which are not yet in [military] service.” He had made several scientific developments in this field and the report indicated the accusation against him is linked to this work.

In 2018, FSB raided two research facilities linked to Roscosmos space agency over suspected leak of secret hypersonic missile technology to the West from inside the research labs.