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Russian jailed for selling missile secrets to CIA | Russian jailed for selling missile secrets to CIA |
(about 4 hours later) | |
An engineer at Russia's Plesetsk space station has been jailed for 13 years after being convicted of selling missile test data to the CIA. | An engineer at Russia's Plesetsk space station has been jailed for 13 years after being convicted of selling missile test data to the CIA. |
Lt-Col Vladimir Nesterets, a senior test engineer at the station, was convicted of treason, Russia's FSB secret police announced. | Lt-Col Vladimir Nesterets, a senior test engineer at the station, was convicted of treason, Russia's FSB secret police announced. |
He admitted passing on information about tests involving Russia's latest strategic missiles, it said. | He admitted passing on information about tests involving Russia's latest strategic missiles, it said. |
However, his wife told Russian media her husband had denied being a traitor. | |
Russia's missile programme has recently been hit by apparent design faults. | Russia's missile programme has recently been hit by apparent design faults. |
Plesetsk, a base in north-western Russia near the Arctic Circle, is used by the military for launching satellites into orbit and testing missiles. | Plesetsk, a base in north-western Russia near the Arctic Circle, is used by the military for launching satellites into orbit and testing missiles. |
'Not a traitor' | |
The FSB (Federal Security Service) gave no further details of the case against Nesterets. | The FSB (Federal Security Service) gave no further details of the case against Nesterets. |
But the engineer's wife told Russian news agency Ria-Novosti her husband had written to say he was innocent. | |
"He wrote to me and said he had never done anything shameful, that he had not sold out his motherland," Irina Nesterets said by telephone. | |
"I believe him and everyone who knows him believes him and I don't know why he confessed to doing it." | |
She added that an appeal was unlikely since he had made a confession. | |
The announcement of the Nesterets sentence comes days after President Dmitry Medvedev said the FSB had uncovered 199 foreign spies and agents last year. | |
Some of these, he said, were Russian nationals working for Western states. | |
"The results of the FSB's counter-intelligence work for last year clearly demonstrate that foreign secret services are stepping up their activities in Russia," Mr Medvedev said. | |
Recent years have seen embarrassing setbacks for Russia's missile programme, though not necessarily involving the Plesetsk base. | Recent years have seen embarrassing setbacks for Russia's missile programme, though not necessarily involving the Plesetsk base. |
Most prominently, the submarine-launched Bulava ballistic missile was hit by a series of test failures before being finally approved in December. | Most prominently, the submarine-launched Bulava ballistic missile was hit by a series of test failures before being finally approved in December. |