Kremlin’s ‘witch-hunt’ could finish off hypersonic missile project

SCIENTISTS working on Russia’s hypersonic missile project have warned the Kremlin that its entire programme could collapse following the arrest of three of their colleagues for treason.

Their rare act of protest, which came in an open letter from the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk, Siberia, raises further questions about Russia’s ability to develop the hi-tech weapons it needs to win its war with Ukraine.

In their letter, published on the institute’s website, the scientists urged Kremlin chiefs and ordinary Russians to “defend Russia’s aerodynamics research and save decades of work by Soviet and Russian scientists from the impending collapse”.

At least half a dozen of Moscow’s “unstoppable” Kinzhal hypersonic missiles have been shot down by Ukraine’s Western-supplied air defence systems in recent weeks .

Three scientists working on the hypersonic missile programme in Siberia have been charged with treason and jailed in the past 10 months.

Anatoly Maslov, a 76-year-old physicist specialising in aerodynamics, and Alexander Shiplyuk, the 56-year-old head of the institute’s hypersonic missile technology lab, have been in jail since their arrests last summer.

A third aerodynamics scientist, Valery Zvegintsev, was detained last month. His arrest had been not previously reported. An unnamed official in the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday that the scientist was detained three weeks ago and has been under house arrest ever since.

The unnamed official said he was allegedly detained for publishing an article “in a foreign scientific publication”.

The scientists also shed light on the plight of another colleague based at the institute. Dmitry Kolker, a physicist, died in jail last summer two days after he had been arrested on treason charges.

His arrest came as he was fighting for his life in hospital with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Russian law enforcement agencies have not commented on the Kolker case.

The arrested trio are described in the letter as “brilliant scientists” whose “competencies and professional reputation would allow them to find well-paid and prestigious jobs abroad”.

They add: “We know each of them as a patriot and a decent person [who would be] incapable of committing what they are suspected of.”

The scientists have warned that the arrests could destroy their research because the Federal Security Services (FSB) “witch-hunt” was deterring young scientists from applying to work on the project.

“We’re not only scared for our colleagues: we simply do not understand how to do our job any more,” the letter states.

“Any article or report can now trigger treason charges. The best students are already refusing to work with us while our best young employees are leaving scientific research.”

The number of treason cases investigated by Russia increased sharply, well before its invasion of Ukraine, as the FSB showcased its work to flush out foreign spies while the Russian leadership constantly talked of Western efforts “to undermine Russia”.

In the first four months of this year Russia initiated at least 20 investigations of treason allegations, as many as it did in the whole of 2022.

A Moscow court on Tuesday received the fifth filing for the arrest of a treason suspect this month, according to court records. There is no public information about the nature of those cases.

A Kremlin spokesman said that he was aware of the scientists’ concerns, but insisted Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, trusted the law enforcement agencies charged with prosecuting their colleagues.

Russian law enforcement agencies have not commented on the case.

Last month, Putin signed into law amendments that increase the potential penalty for treason from 20 years’ imprisonment to a life sentence.

‘We are not only scared for our colleagues: we simply do not understand how to do our job any more’