Russian Ex-Journalist Accused of Treason to Stay in Detention

(Bloomberg) -- A Russian court ordered the continued pre-trial detention of a prominent former journalist accused of treason, while striking out one element of the charges against him.

The Moscow City Court on Thursday rejected Ivan Safronov’s bid to be released from custody, leaving him in jail for at least two months. Safronov, who regularly broke news on sensitive arms deals while working for the Kommersant newspaper over much of the past decade, denies the accusations against him.

Investigators say that Safronov, who was detained July 7, passed classified information to Czech intelligence that Prague then passed on to the U.S., according to his lawyer Ivan Pavlov. The charges, which were formally filed Monday, contain no details about who exactly he allegedly provided the materials to, Pavlov said.

The court struck out prosecutors’ assertion that the alleged cooperation happened over the long term. Investigators say Safronov was recruited by Czech secret service in 2012 and in 2017 provided them with information on Russia’s arms trade and other military issues. He left journalism earlier this year and since May has worked as an aide to the head of Russia’s state space agency.

“This will make it easier for us to fight going forward,” against the charges, said another defense lawyer, Oleg Yeliseev.

Safronov’s prosecution is the latest in an escalating number of espionage cases in the past decade and has led to an outcry in the Russian media.

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