Russia Nabs Top Hypersonic Scientist, Slaps Him With Treason

A Russian court late last week ordered a 73-year-old leading specialist in hypersonic technology to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of state treason, the latest in a series of such cases.

Photo Insert: Hypersonic missile test being conducted by the Russian military

Security officers arrested the suspect, Alexander Kuranov, general director of the St Petersburg-based Hypersonic Systems Research Facility, in Moscow, state news agency TASS cited a law enforcement source as saying, Tom Balmforth and Maxim Rodionov reported for Reuters.

Kuranov oversaw work on the concept for a new hypersonic aircraft dubbed Ayaks that dates back to the Soviet era, according to his facility's website. Hypersonic technology allows objects to travel much faster than the speed of sound.

Russia, whose ties with the West have deteriorated to post-Cold War lows since 2014, has been developing a number of hypersonic weapons in recent years that President Vladimir Putin has touted as unparalleled and lavished praise on.

The detainee is suspected of passing secret information to a foreign citizen about hypersonic technology research that he had worked on for a long time, Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying.

Treason and espionage cases are usually held behind closed doors in Russia and case details seldom come to light because of their classified nature.

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