Russian professors jailed for selling missile secrets to China

Moscow, June 20 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A Russian court Wednesday sentenced two university professors to long prison terms for selling military secrets, including sensitive data on Russia's Bulava missile system, to China.

Experts believe that the information sold to China could be used for detecting Russian strategic submarines.

The St. Petersburg City Court Wednesday found Yevgeny Afanasyev from the Baltic State Technical University, Voyenmekh, guilty of high treason. He will serve 12 years and six months in a high security prison. His colleague, Svyatoslav Bobyshev, was sentenced to 12 years in a high security prison on similar charges.

According to investigations, the two passed secret information on the specifications of the Bulava-30 sea-based ballistic missile to Chinese intelligence officers for $7,000 while on a business trip to China in 2009.

The two men were arrested in March 2010 and have remained in prison ever since. In July 2010, the Committee for the Defence of Scientists pronounced them "victims of spy mania."

The trial was held behind closed doors. Both men pleaded not guilty and their lawyers said they would appeal the court ruling.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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