May 23, 2023

Thank You For Your Service


Thank You For Your Service
The supersonic missile Kinzhal mounted on a MIG-31. The Presidential Press and Information Office, Wikimedia Commons

Valery Zvegintsev, Alexander Shiplyuk, and Anatoly Maslov, three scientists at the Novosibirsk Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) who were engaged in the creation of hypersonic weaponry, have been arrested for treason.

Novaya Gazeta Europe journalists report that the case is classified. It is only known that the interest of law enforcement officers in Zvegintsev was caused by his publication of an article in an Iranian magazine. According to Academ.info, Maslov might be suspected of transferring data related to hypersonic technologies to China. At the same time, colleagues at ITAM noted that Zvegintsev’s work, as well as scientific publications by Maslov and Shiplyuk, "were repeatedly checked by the expert commission for the presence of restricted access information in them, and such information was not found."

The Moscow Times reported that Shiplyuk and Maslov have been engaged in hypersonic missile development for over a decade. Such missiles fly at speeds of at least Mach5, are highly maneuverable, and are able to change course during flight.

In 2018, President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of the weapons during a message to the Federal Assembly. Putin showed deputies, senators, and officials, the anti-ship missile Zircon, the intercontinental ballistic missile Avangard, and the hypersonic missile Kinzhal (which means "Dagger"). According to the president, the Kinzhal is "guaranteed to overcome" the existing air defense and missile defense systems.

However, on May 4, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that it had shot down Kinzhal missiles with Patriot air defense systems that Kyiv received from Germany and the Netherlands. Later, this information was officially confirmed by the Pentagon.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the detention of scientists involved in hypersonic weapons.

Nevertheless, the arrests set the scientific community on edge. Scientists at the Siberian Branch of the RAS have written an open letter to authorities saying that they are worried about the fate of their colleagues and do not understand how they are to continue working. "We see that any article or report can cause accusations of treason. What we are rewarded for today, for which we are held up as an example to others, tomorrow becomes the basis for a criminal prosecution," the letter reads.

In total, 16 scientists in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been prosecuted. This branch is particularly well-known for its strengths in physics and mathematics. One of the scientists, 54-year-old Dmitry Kolker, head of the Laboratory of Quantum Optical Technologies at Novosibirsk State University, died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center.

Russia's article of the Criminal Code on treason is applied quite often. According to the human rights initiative "Team 29," between 1997 and 2017, about a hundred persons were convicted of treason and espionage. Since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the law has been applied even more frequently. 

You Might Also Like

The Threat from Abroad
  • December 28, 2022

The Threat from Abroad

Putin has issued a call to hunt down spies and saboteurs. The State Duma has prepared new “anti-sabotage” laws.
Screws are Tightening
  • April 12, 2023

Screws are Tightening

March has seen a serious tightening of the screws of repression by the Russian regime.
Subversion Subverted
  • March 14, 2022

Subversion Subverted

Putin's attempt to undermine Ukraine backfired ... due to corruption.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955