Suspicious Sentences of Supersonic Scientists

Siberian physicists Valery Zvegintsev (Novosibirsk) and Vladislav Galkin (Tomsk) were each sentenced to 12.5 years in a maximum-security prison. Given that the former is 82 and the latter is 71, the sentences could be considered “one-way tickets,” as independent outlet Novaya Gazeta wrote. Zvegintsev is disabled, and he was not even able to stand while his verdict was read. 

Why such a harsh punishment for people who did not inflict bodily harm and did not openly oppose the war or Putin’s regime? The verdict was handed down under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code: “High Treason.” But no one knows what this treason consists of. Their case was handled by the FSB, and thus the trial was closed to the public.

All that is known is that both men's area of scientific expertise is hypersonic technology. Rumors suggest that their case was initiated because they jointly authored an article on gas dynamics that was published in an Iranian scientific journal. The article described a method used in the development of the “Avangard” hypersonic complex and the “Kinzhal,” “Sarmat,” and “Zircon” missiles. Yet colleagues of the defendants said that, at the time of the article's publication, the information it contained was not classified; moreover, the FSB reviewed the text twice before the material was submitted for publication.

This is not the first case of its kind. In 2024, three scientists (also involved in hypersonic research) were prosecuted under similar circumstances. Alexander Sheplyuk was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to 15 years in a maximum-security prison on charges of treason. In St. Petersburg, Anatoly Maslov received a 14-year sentence after being accused of illegal collaboration with Germany and China. And Novosibirsk scientist Dmitry Kolker never even made it to trial, dying three days after his arrest. He had stage IV cancer.

Novaya Gazeta reported that there are a number of similar cases that have not received the same publicity, due to their secrecy. Yet, all the charges are based on the security services’ criminalization of international scientific cooperation: publications in foreign journals, trips to symposia, and giving lectures outside Russia.

One can only speculate whether all this is part of some larger scheme, or whether the FSB is simply looking to intimidate the scientific community. According to human rights activist Ivan Pavlov, the directive to closely guard developments in the field of aerodynamics came directly from the Russian president: “Putin once blurted out that Russia has promising developments in the field of hypersonics that need to be protected, and they took that as their cue,” Pavlov said. “FSB agents are opportunists. In reality, they aren’t protecting anything or anyone; they’re simply destroying scientists.”