High treason

Russian journalists in shock as FSB hunts enemy within

As Ivan Safronov was led into court, hands cuffed and head pushed down by two masked guards, he managed just one sentence. "I'm not guilty," he told a crowd of supporters packed into the corridor.

The arrest of the former military correspondent has shocked fellow Russian journalists, who describe the claim by the FSB security service that he handed state secrets to Czech Intelligence as "absurd".

The Kremlin has praised the '"high quality" work of Russian counter-intelligence but none of the evidence of Ivan Safronov's "betrayal" has been made public.

So some fear his arrest is a show of force by the FSB amid a surge in detentions for treason and espionage so great it's prompted talk of "spy mania".

'Putin doesn't care what anyone thinks'

"My first thought was that I'd gone back two decades in a time machine," says Grigory Pasko, recalling his own prosecution in 1997 - the last time a Russian journalist was charged with treason.

Mr Pasko was also a military correspondent and he'd written extensively about environmental violations by the Russian navy.

High treason

Adviser to Russian Space Agency chief arrested on suspicion of passing information to NATO intelligence

An adviser to the head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, was arrested in Moscow on Tuesday on suspicion of treason. Formerly a journalist, Ivan Safronov only took up his new role two months ago.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, Safronov is accused of working for a foreign intelligence agency, and passing secret information about military technology and the Russian defense industry to an unspecified NATO country.

According to Roscosmos, his arrest does not concern his current work. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has indicated that it's also not connected to his past journalism. 

Earlier, media speculation linked his arrest to his previous reporting on the military-industrial complex, in particular, a story on an aircraft sale to Egypt, published in Moscow daily Kommersant.

High treason

Musharraf's journey in pictures: From military chief to treason convict

Retired general Pervez Musharraf, the country's former president, was sentenced to death for high treason by a special court on Tuesday.

After having called a state of emergency twice, once in 1999 and then again in 2007, the former military chief left the country in 2016 to seek medical treatment abroad. He promised to return to Pakistan in a few months but has been in self-imposed exile since.

Here, Dawn.com provides a brief pictorial overview from his time as army chief, followed by his nine-year-long rule and the years after he retired as the country's chief executive.

High treason

Former Russian cop charged with treason for passing secret documents to CIA

A Moscow region court has sentenced former police officer Aleksandr Chistov to 13 years in a maximum security prison for passing classified information to the CIA.

It has been established that while serving at the Russian Interior Ministry, in 2011, Chistov initiated contact with the CIA. The public relations center of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS he was "guided by mercenary motives."

"Being recruited by the US intelligence service and fulfilling its tasks, he was gathering information available to him for three years, including state secrets, and leaking it overseas for monetary reward," the FSB said.

High treason

Former GRU officer convicted of treason appeals against sentence

Gennady Kravtsov, a former employee at Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, has filed an appeal against a 14-year sentence for passing secrets to the West, his attorney Ivan Pavlov told RAPSI on Friday.

Kravtsov’s case has been classified and was heard behind closed doors, so that no information leaked to the press. However, the media have found out that Kravtsov, who worked as an engineer after his resignation from the GRU, sent his CV to apply for a position at a Swedish company.

The investigators believe that the CV contained confidential information. But Kravtsov’s defense attorneys claim there was nothing of the kind in the application.

High treason

Russian spy jailed for treason over Swedish job letter

A court in Moscow has sentenced a Russian former intelligence radio engineer to 14 years in prison after he wrote to a Swedish company looking for work.

Gennady Kravtsov was found guilty of state treason and sent to a maximum-security prison colony at a hearing on Monday. The judge said Kravtsov had passed information that included state secrets to another government, adding that the defendant had promised not to reveal this information when he served in Russian intelligence.

“According to polygraph results, Kravtsov concealed his contacts with a foreign government,” the ruling said, according to the news agency Interfax.