Absolutely terrible news. Ivan Safronov, who was previously a journalist at Kommersant and Vedomosti where he primarily covered the defense industry and military, has been arrested for treason. He began working recently as an adivsor at Roscosmos.
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
The press release said that the charges are not related to his work at Roscosmos. Safronov left Kommersant last year after publishing an article about the possible resignation of the Chairwoman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko. 2/
interfax.ru/russia/716211
interfax.ru/russia/716211
RBK notes that he was questioned by the FSB and a court case was brought after he published an article (later removed from Kommersant's website) about Egypt purchasing Su-35 fighters, which was later confirmed by other outlets. 3/
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rbc.ru/society/07/07/…
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The Wall Street Journal reported in November that the US was threatening Egypt with CAATSA if they went ahead with the purchase of Su-35 fighters. Reporting on the deal early on would give the US more time to try to persuade Egypt to cancel the deal. 5/
wsj.com/articles/u-s-t…
wsj.com/articles/u-s-t…
Russia's export contract with Indonesia for 11 Su-35 fighters has been paused for nearly two years because of the threat of CAATSA. 6/
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Dmitry Peskov said that Safronov's arrest was not related to his activities as a journalist. 8/
vedomosti.ru/society/news/2…
vedomosti.ru/society/news/2…
If a respected journalist can be arrested months after he left the profession and while working for some as powerful as Dmitri Rogozin, it is easy to imagine the chilling effect this will have on future reporting on the Russian defense industry and military. 9/
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Elena Chernenko, the Deputy head of Kommersant's Foreign Desk, has begun a picket outside of the Lubyanka in support of Ivan Safronov. 11/
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Video of Kommersant's Elena Chernenko being arrested. 14/
During a Q&A with the press earlier today, Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, was reminded that he called Safronov "one of the most professional and talented journalists" last year, which he still agrees with, and noted the "deep expertise" of his work. 15/
meduza.io/feature/2020/0…
meduza.io/feature/2020/0…
3 more journalists were arrested while picketing in support of Ivan Safronov. 16/
Video of another Kommersant journalist, Alexander Chernykh, being arrested. 17/
Ilya Shepelin notes that Safronov traveled with Putin as part of the presidential pool on a foreign trip a year and a half ago, which requires extensive counterintelligence background checks. But they obviously didn't find anything. 18/
The FSB is setting up barriers near the Lubyanka. 19/
More arrests. 20/
8 people have been arrested near the Lubyanka. 21/
Safronov's lawyers were not allowed to join him while he was being questioned by the FSB. 22/
interfax.ru/russia/716288
interfax.ru/russia/716288
Of the 8 people arrested so far, four are journalists who work at Kommersant. 23/
Moskovsky Komsomolets' Natalya Vedeneeva suggests that Safronov's arrest could have been part of an effort to undermine Roscosmos' Dmitri Rogozin, noting that Putin and Deputy PM Yuri Borisov canceled meetings with him recently. 24/
mk.ru/politics/2020/…
mk.ru/politics/2020/…
Not sure about the argument about the cancelations, but she notes that Safronov would have had to go through background checks before becoming an advisor to Rogozin at Roscosmos (he started work there in May). Why didn't they turn up anything if these charges are true? 25/
Reuters' journalist Polina Nikolskaya was also arrested. 26/
A law enforcement source told TASS that Safronov denied the charges during his interrogation. 27/
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
Safronov being brought into the courtroom. 28/
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The BBC's Russia service reports that Safronov was arrested by members of the FSB's economic security service (department P), which oversees counterintelligence over the industrial sector. 31/
bbc.com/russian/news-5…
bbc.com/russian/news-5…
BBC also reports that Safronov's case might be related to the search and arrest of another former Kommersant journalist, Taisiya Bekbulatova (she left in 2017), which also occured today. 32/
Safronov's case will be held behind closed doors, which the FSB requested. 33/
Kommersant, Meduza, Vedomosti, RBK, and Telekanal Dozhd all released statements in support of Safronov. 34/
kommersant.ru/doc/4406986
meduza.io/feature/2020/0…
tvrain.ru/teleshow/notes…
rbc.ru/society/07/07/…
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kommersant.ru/doc/4406986
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tvrain.ru/teleshow/notes…
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Ridiculous. Kommersant's Elena Chernenko was arrested for violating social distancing guidelines in public. She was protesting by herself. 36/
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
tass.ru/proisshestviya…
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Safranov's arrest "shows that the rules have changed again. The FSB is applying its paranoid definition of espionage to journalists—and is going out of its way to make sure everyone knows. What’s more, senior leaders have apparently sanctioned the action."
themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/08/saf…
themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/08/saf…
According to Safronov's lawyer, the charges relate to information about Russian arms exports to the Middle East and Africa, which he allegedly sent to Czechia in 2017, but not his work as a journalist, as the FSB has claimed. 39/
kommersant.ru/doc/4407272
kommersant.ru/doc/4407272
This makes little sense given that he published plenty of articles about Russian arms sales to MENA, including ones that angered the Russian government. What would have been more damaging or secret than the 2019 article about the Su-35 contract with Egypt? 40/
He was questioned by the FSB about that article, which Kommersant later removed. Safronov has also identified the commander of Russian forces in Syria, which isn't normally publicly released, in his reporting. Seems implausible to believe this isn't related to his reporting. 41/
Kommersant reports that the FSB wiretapped Safronov. Based off the amount of documents that the FSB brought, it appears he had been followed for years, which again begs the question why he is being charged now for an alleged crime from 2017. 42/
meduza.io/news/2020/07/0…
meduza.io/news/2020/07/0…
Another interesting anecdote from Kommersant, Safronov was arrested by FSB officers who were driving in a van with SVR numbers, which has led some to believe that the SVR was invovled. 43/
kommersant.ru/doc/4407193#id…
kommersant.ru/doc/4407193#id…
Ivan Pavlov, Safronov's lawyer, told Bloomberg, “They were following him from 2018 and possibly earlier.” He also said that the FSB alleges that the information provided to the Czech security services made it to the US. 44/
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Protests in support of Ivan Safronov continued today with a correspondant for Russia Today, Maria Sherstyukova, being arrested outside of the Lubyanka. 46/
