A leading Russian hypersonic missile expert has been detained on suspicion of high treason.
Professor Alexander Shiplyuk, 55, was held in a swoop by the FSB counter-intelligence agency in Novosibirsk, Siberia where he heads the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
The respected academic is the latest to be held in a wave of arrests of leading researchers on suspicion of handing secrets to foreign powers.
Like the others he was flown to notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow for interrogation.
Announcing his arrest, TASS state news agency called him an ‘acclaimed Russian scientist’.
In June, the institute’s chief researcher Professor Anatoly Maslov, 75, a pioneer of hypersonic technologies, was held.
Scientific director Vasily Fomin told TASS today: ‘Investigative activities were held in the institute.
‘They are linked with our director, Alexander Shiplyuk, who has been arrested.
‘He is faced with the same charges as Maslov – high treason.’
Three days later Professor Dmitry Kolker, 54, of the Institute of Laser Physics in Novosibirsk, was also held, despite having fourth stage cancer.
He was also held on suspicion of treason, and died in custody on 2 July.
A Western diplomat source said: ‘Putin’s government sees traitors everywhere in a sign of rising paranoia. It’s like a witch hunt.’
Those convicted face up to 20 years in jail.
The arrests come during the damaging war with Ukraine.
Putin has insisted that Russia’s hypersonic technology is superior to any in the world.
The Maslov and Kolker cases were seen as being linked to espionage by China, supposedly a Russian ally.
Shiplyuk’s institute specialises in high-speed aero-gas dynamics and experimental research of gas flows.
Key areas of his research interest include experimental aero-thermal dynamics of hypersonic aircraft with straight jet engines.
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