Russia accuses top Arctic scientist Valery Mitko of spying for China
- Head of Russia’s Arctic Academy of Sciences faces up to 20 years in jail for handing secret information to Chinese special services
- Allegations highlight competition between Moscow and Beijing despite development of strategic partnership in response to rising tensions with the West
Russia has accused one of its top Arctic scientists of passing state secrets to China, the latest case of an academic falling foul of the security services over foreign contacts.
Investigators say Valery Mitko, president of Russia’s Arctic Academy of Sciences and a visiting professor at China’s Dalian Maritime University, handed secret information to Chinese special services, his lawyer Ivan Pavlov said by phone. Mitko, 78, who faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, denies the charges.
The allegations of spying against academics highlight competition between Russia and China even after the two began to develop a strategic partnership in response to rising tensions with the West.
Mitko was detained in February and placed under house arrest after being accused of taking a document containing state secrets with him on a 2018 lecture visit to China, Pavlov said. All the information the St Petersburg scientist took out of Russia came from open sources and he never met with Chinese intelligence, according to his lawyer.
This is a campaign against scientists. How will science develop if they ban contacts with foreigners?
Federal Security Service investigators accuse Mitko, an expert in hydroacoustics, of passing on information about technology for detecting submarines in return for payment, the Meduza news website reported.