He did not plead guilty: lawyers talked about Safronov’s charge of treason

The investigation charged Treason with the adviser to the Director General of Roscosmos, a former journalist for Kommersant and Vedomosti Ivan Safronov. This was announced by his lawyer Ivan Pavlov.

Ivan Safronov himself pleaded not guilty.

“The charge against Ivan is not clear. It is unclear by whom, according to the investigation, Ivan was recruited, what information, to whom and how he transmitted, as well as at what time, ”RIA Novosti quoted the defender as saying.

The lawyer also confirmed the intention of the journalist to cooperate with the investigation.

Pavlov added that Safronov was doing well, his rights in the pre-trial detention center were not violated.

Prior to this, Pavlov, who spoke with reporters near the courthouse, noted that they had been taken from lawyers for non-disclosure of state secrets, and also stated that they had not been shown evidence in the case.

He also said that, according to the investigation, Safronov used software to encrypt transmitted messages.

In addition, he stated that the FSB forensics did not find in his journalist publications his client containing state secrets.

“Specialists from the FSB forensic science institute did not find information containing state secrets in Safronov’s publications. Thus, they insist that the crime allegedly committed by him is not related to his professional activities, ”Pavlov told reporters.

The detention of Ivan Safronov became known on the morning of July 7. According to the press service of Roscosmos, he was charged under Art. 275 of the Criminal Code (High Treason). At the same time, the state corporation said that the current situation is not related to the current work of Safronov.

In turn, the FSB of Russia specified that the journalist is suspected of transmitting classified information to a representative of one of the special services of NATO countries. 

On the evening of July 7, the Lefortovo court of Moscow ruled to arrest Safronov for one month and 30 days.

According to Ivan Pavlov, the journalist is suspected of working for Czech special services. Another defender, Yevgeny Smirnov, added that, according to the investigation, Safronov has been cooperating with the Czech special services since 2012.

“The investigation believes that Safronov has been interacting with the Czech special services since 2012. The investigation believes that in 2017 he collected information containing state secrets, and in the same year passed it to the Czech special services, allegedly out of mercenary motives, ”Smirnov said.

He also said that Safronov’s case concerns the transfer of military-technical information about Russia's supplies of arms to African countries in favor of the Czech special services. Lawyer Pavlov, in turn, added that the investigation considers the United States to be the ultimate recipient of classified information.

Recall, the court session was held behind closed doors due to the fact that the case materials contain sensitive information.

A spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, answering a question from journalists if secrecy of the case could not become a “destabilizing factor for society,” recalled that “there is no place for emotions,” since there is a law on state secrets and a secret regime.

At the same time, he called it understandable "increased interest of journalists in relation to the fate of a colleague."

“And, believe me, we are also worried about this, but here we still have to clearly, say so, understand: there is a law on state secrets, there is a secret regime, and it must be respected. There should be no place for emotions, ”RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

He also noted that the Kremlin does not have case materials and “cannot know in detail about how the investigation is going and what it focuses on.”

Prior to this, Peskov noted that, according to the Kremlin, the detention was not connected with journalistic activities that the man had previously been involved in.

The detention of Safronov was commented by the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin, also stating that the case was not related to the professional activities of the man.

“First, I highly appreciate the professionalism of Russian counterintelligence employees. Second, the detention is in no way connected with the professional activities of the person involved. And third, I do not advise anyone to put pressure on the investigation, ”he said.