Russian officer jailed over missile secrets

A MILITARY court has convicted a Russian officer of providing the CIA with secret information on Russia’s new intercontinental ballistic missiles, sentencing him to 13 years in prison.

Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Nesterets admitted passing on that classified information in exchange for money, said the Federal Security Service.

Nesterets committed treason as he worked as a senior engineer at the Plesetsk launch pad in north-western Russia, a facility the military uses to launch satellites and test its new missile systems, the agency added.

But local sources quoted the officer’s wife, Irina, as saying she could not understand the guilty plea because her husband had told her he did nothing wrong and had not betrayed his country.

Prime minister Vladimir Putin has been increasingly eager to challenge the US as he campaigns to reclaim the Russian presidency in next month’s election. He has accused Washington of driving the mass pro-democracy protests in an effort to weaken Russia.

Political scientist Pavel Salin said the case against Nesterets should be seen in the context of the presidential election.

He said: “The Russian authorities are pushing the idea of Russia as a besieged fortress, and in order to buttress this idea they need big, scandalous cases to show that the Western special services are active on the country’s territory.”