Spying on Ivan Safronov as part of a criminal case on treason began in 2019 after the negative reaction of Egyptian officials to the publication in Kommersant of his material «Su-35 will strengthen the Egyptian force.» This is reported by the BBC Russian Service, citing a source.
The letters of the Egyptian defense attache in Moscow, Brigadier General Mohamed Mansi and the head of the armaments department of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, Major General Tarek, were at the disposal of the journalists Saada Zaghulya. They wrote to the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) on the day Safronov and his colleague Alexandra Dzhorzhevich published the article.
Agent «Wanker» and journalist Vinokurova. The Project published an indictment in the case of Ivan Safronov
Egyptian officials were unhappy with the fact that the media published information about their cooperation with the Russian military-industrial complex (MIC). As Zaghlul wrote in an appeal to the FSMTC, Egypt has repeatedly asked the Russian colleagues «to take security measures to avoid posting information relating to the areas of military cooperation and all contracts.» The official concluded the letter with a warning about the negative impact of such publications on the relationship of the parties to the contract.
At the same time, Izvestia, Vedomosti, RBC, Lenta.ru, Interfax and other government publications referred to the Kommersant article. Interfax sources even confirmed that «the production of aircraft for Egypt is already underway.» Later, TASS used Safronov's material in its article about the production of the Su-35 under a contract with Egypt.
According to the journalist's lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, letters from Egyptian officials are in the materials of his client's criminal case, despite the fact that this topic was not raised during the investigation and court hearings. As the Russian service of the BBC drew attention, according to the indictment published by the Project, it was after the conflict over the article about the Su-35 that Safronov began to be monitored as part of the treason case.
For more than two years, during which the journalist was in a pre-trial detention center, the authorities insisted that the case against him was not related to his professional activities in publications. According to the FSB, Safronov gave the Czech Martin Larish and political scientist Demuri Voronin, who previously lived in Germany, have seven files that relate to Russia's military-technical cooperation with Libya, Algeria, Serbia and the CIS countries, as well as Russia's participation in the war in Syria.
Today during the debate, the journalist said: “Having studied everything that the investigation incriminated me, I can unequivocally state that my criminal prosecution is directly related to my journalistic work. work.» Previously, the Project found out that information that the investigation calls a state secret in the Safronov case is in open sources.
At the debate in the Moscow City Court, prosecutor Boris Loktionov requested Safronov to be sentenced to 24 years in a strict regime colony. The journalist will be sentenced on September 5, the lawyer told RIA Novosti.