MOSCOW, July 7 (RAPSI) – Investigators have demanded to place advisor of the Roscosmos state corporation’s CEO and ex-journalist of Kommersant newspaper Ivan Safronov, who had allegedly collected and transferred of state secret data to a NATO intelligence agency, in detention in a treason case. 

The motion is to be heard by Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court, according to its spokesperson Ksenia Pervovlasenko.

According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Safronov discharged a task of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s security service to collect information on military and technical cooperation, defense and security of the Russian Federation and transmit it to its representative.

Safronov was arrested on Tuesday. He is charged with treason. According to the Roscosmos press service, Safronov’s arrest is not connected with his work in the company.

The former reporter of Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers was appointed as advisor of Dmitry Rogozin in May 2020 after a scandal related to the publication of  an explosive article about possible resignation of the Federation Council head Valentina Matviyenko.