Translated material
Chinese syndrome
The prosecutor demanded 12 years in prison for the academician for the illegal export of Russian space technology
The Moscow City Court yesterday refused to change the preventive measure in the form of arrest for academician of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics Igor Reshetin, accused of committing a number of serious crimes - illegal export of technology, smuggling, theft by embezzlement and money laundering. In addition, it became known that last week, during the debate in the Lefortovo District Court of the capital, where the trial is taking place, the prosecutor demanded that the 53-year-old scientist be sentenced to 12 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony.The defendant's colleagues - scientists and specialists - are perplexed. They are confident that this case is “another imitation of the work of the FSB, which persecuted scientists.” In addition, they are inclined to view the case as “an order from certain structures that benefited from removing Mr. Reshetin’s company TsNIIMash-Export, which carried out research in the field of space technology, from the market.” The case of Academician Reshetin became the next link in the chain of criminal cases initiated by the FSB on charges of espionage, treason and illegal sale of technology to foreigners. Many of them received harsh sentences, including for collaborating with the Chinese.
As the academician's lawyer Anatoly Yablokov told Vremya Novostei, at the end of last week in the Lefortovo District Court the state prosecutor said that the guilt of the academician of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics and his three alleged accomplices - the chief economist of TsNIIMash-Export Sergei Vizir, the head of the export control department Mikhail Ivanov and Deputy for Security Alexander Rozhkin - has been fully proven. The prosecutor considered that Mr. Reshetin deserved the most severe punishment - he demanded 12 years in prison for him. For other defendants, the prosecutor asked for different terms - from 6 to 11 years.
From the materials of the criminal case it follows that in 1996, TsNIIMash-Export prepared 13 reports on the topic “numerical modeling of aerodynamic flow around asymmetric models in supersonic flow conditions” for the All-China Import-Export Technical Expert Company of Precision Engineering. Foreigners were going to use this knowledge to create manned spacecraft. This cooperation interested the FSB. According to its investigators, the Chinese could use the transmitted data not only for peaceful purposes. The intelligence service believed that the scientists gave foreigners information about so-called “dual-use” technologies, which they had no right to do without a special license from the Ministry of Economic Development. According to FSB experts, the Chinese could easily use the data obtained to create missile delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction.
During the investigation, which was carried out by the FSB Investigation Department, it turned out that in addition to the “illegal export of technology,” TsNIIMash-Export employees squandered about 50 million rubles transferred by the Chinese to fulfill the contract, and then legalized the stolen funds by purchasing promissory notes from large Russian banks . As a result, the FSB calculated that the accused caused damage to the state in the amount of almost 110 million rubles.
Reshetin and his colleagues were detained in November 2005. Academician and chief economist of TsNIIMash-Export Vizir were taken under arrest, and Rozhkin and Ivanov were released on their own recognizance.
Lawyers and colleagues of the defendants believe that the case was initially initiated on far-fetched grounds. “The information transferred to the Chinese was not included in the “restrictive lists” regulating which technologies are considered dual. In addition, Mr. Reshetin himself, when he began to cooperate with foreigners, went through dozens of authorities, receiving the go-ahead, and we conducted about 20 examinations proving that we were right,” said the academician’s lawyer Anatoly Yablokov. “We don’t understand why, among other things, they are charged with both illegal export and smuggling. It turns out to be butter! The comments to the Criminal Code explain that if one of these two articles exists, the second cannot exist. It is also worth noting that TsNIIMash-Export did not deal with customs issues; they were resolved by a customs broker - a large Western company. Why weren’t they charged with smuggling then?”
Among other things, during the trial it became clear that the FSUE TsNIIMash, recognized by the investigation as a victim, does not actually consider itself as such. This enterprise is engaged in design and exploratory research and development of programs for the development of rocket and space technology and space activities in Russia, comprehensive testing of rocket and space technology, solving scientific and technical problems of aerogasdynamics, heat and mass transfer, strength, dynamics, standardization and unification of rocket and space systems, as well as flight control of spacecraft and orbital stations. “FSUE is a shareholder of Reshetina’s company. By law, a shareholder can claim certain dividends, but not all of the company's profits. Secondly, FSUE does not make any claims against Mr. Reshetin. On the contrary, in court they stated that they did not recognize themselves as victims, that without TsNIIMash-Export, without its orders, they simply would not have been able to survive in the 90s. In the end, the intelligence services were unable to explain where the embezzlement came from,” explained lawyer Yablokov.
From the materials of the criminal case it follows that Academician Reshetin legalized the money stolen from the Chinese contract by purchasing bills of exchange from various banks. At the same time, Mr. Yablokov noted, from the wording of the accusation it is not at all clear why the investigation decided that it was the “Chinese money” that was spent by the management of TsNIIMash-Export on debt obligations, and not others - after all, at that time the defendants were working on 17 projects with various foreign organizations.
The scientist’s colleagues believe that it was no accident that he was framed.
TsNIIMash-Export was founded in 1991. The company was mainly engaged in mediation - it received commercial orders from foreigners and transferred them to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise TsNIIMash. During this time, they completed more than 150 contracts in the field of space, which brought huge profits to the country. But after the arrest of its director, Mr. Reshetin, the active activities of the company became a thing of the past. It is possible that this is a well-planned attempt to oust a successful company from the market,” said one of the FSUE employees.
Most observers compare the case of Academician Reshetin with the “witch hunt” that the FSB has carried out against scientists in recent years. Thus, several prominent Russian specialists were simultaneously registered as spies. And in almost all these cases, despite the numerous examinations that the Russians did not pass on any secrets to foreigners, and the accusations were mainly based on the speculation of security officers, the courts handed down harsh sentences. Among the most famous “spy scientists” is Igor Sutyagin, head of the sector of military-technical and military-economic policy of the department of military-political studies of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He received 15 years on charges of treason, which consisted of transmitting information about Russian military equipment to CIA agents, which he received from open sources. Krasnoyarsk physicist Valentin Danilov also “caught” spying for China. The FSB accused the scientist on the basis of an agreement he, as director of the Thermophysical Center of Krasnoyarsk University, signed with the same All-China Import-Export Technical Expert Company of Precision Engineering, according to which the Russians were to create a test bench to study the processes of eliminating satellites in space and developing software. Despite the fact that the secrecy stamp on such work was removed long ago and, according to some sources, all operations were controlled by the FSB itself, the scientist received 14 years in prison.
At the same time, the two scientists still managed to defend their innocence, despite the fact that the intelligence services were very serious about them. In October, acting The prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region, Pavel Astafiev, sent a letter of apology to the scientists, brothers Oleg and Igor Minin. The FSB accused the physicists of disclosing state secrets. According to the investigation, the book published by the Minins, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Applied Physics, disclosed secret information regarding optical and radio-electronic curtains used in combat conditions. The most interesting thing is that the publication was born after checking for compliance with state secrets. However, a week and a half after the charges were filed, the criminal prosecution of the brothers was dropped, as the investigation could not find evidence of their involvement in the disclosure of state secrets.