MOSCOW, February 10 - RAPSI. A Russian military district court sentenced on Friday an engineer at the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia to 13 years in prison on charges of state treason.

Lt. Col. Vladimir Nesterets, a senior testing engineer at the center, has been convicted of selling secret data on tests of new Russian ballistic missiles.

“Nesterets has pleaded guilty on charges of selling information about testing of new Russian strategic missile systems to CIA officers in exchange for money,” the FSB said in a statement.

“He was sentenced to 13 years in a high security prison and stripped of his rank,” the statement said.

The details of the trial, which was held behind closed doors, are not available to the public because of national security reasons.

The Plesetsk Space Center is the only space launch facility on Russian territory. It is mainly used for launches of military satellites and tests of ballistic missiles.