Russian Hypersonic Scientist Accused of Passing State Secrets to Foreigners Jailed for 7 Years

Moscow: A Russian scientist involved with hypersonic technology was sentenced to seven years in jail on Thursday as part of a treason trial under which he stands accused (now convicted) of passing state secrets to foreign entities, Reuters reported. Alexander Kuranov, at the time of his arrest in 2021, was working as the director of the Hypersonics Systems Research Facility in St Petersburg.

At the time of his arrest, reports stated that Kuranov had been held for allegedly passing secret information about Russian hypersonics technology to certain foreign entities. Russian President Vladimir Putin, it should be noted, has repeatedly emphasised that Moscow is the world leader in hypersonic technology and has even reportedly made use of hypersonic missiles in Ukraine. 

Kuranov is one of several Russian scientists to be sentenced to jail in recent years for allegedly passing state secrets to foreigners. His sentence, which came after two trials, would see him spending seven years in a high security prison with an attached fine of 100,000 rubles.