ACADEMIC DETAINED FOR ALLEGEDLY SPYING: REPORT

MOSCOW Russia has detained an academic on suspicion of state treason for allegedly passing secrets to a NATO country, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday. Valery Golubkin, a professor who works at a Moscow institute studying aerodynamics, was accused of handing over secrets in a case involving an arrested physicist, Anatoly Gubanov, Interfax said. It did not name the NATO country. Gubanov was detained in December last year on state treason charges, punishable by up to 20 years in jail. A lawyer for Golubkin told Interfax that his client denied any guilt and would appeal the Moscow court's decision. “He's an academic. His job (involves) a pen and paper, not handing over secrets,” lawyer Alexander Timoshenko was quoted as saying.