Russian ex-journalist on trial for treason: ‘I will fight until the end’

Ivan Safronov faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty

The former journalist is accused of passing military secrets about Russian arms sales to the Czech Republic (AFP via Getty Images)

A former Russian reporter Ivan Safronov said ahead of the resumption of his treason trial on Monday that he intends to vigorously fight the charges against him and he does not fear the prospect of being jailed.

Mr Safronov covered military affairs for the Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers before becoming an aide to the head of Russia’s space agency just two months prior to his arrest in July 2020.

If he is found guilty of treason, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

The former journalist denies accusations of passing military secrets about Russian arms sales in the Middle East and Africa to the Czech Republic, a Nato member, while he was working as a reporter in 2017.

Mr Safronov has said state investigators pointed to his acquaintance with a Czech journalist he met in Moscow in 2010 who later set up a website. Mr Safronov said he later contributed to this website using information entirely based on open sources.

He called the accusations "a complete travesty of justice and common sense.”

In a personal correspondence seen by Reuters on Monday, Mr Safronov said he harboured no illusions about the prospect of being imprisoned for his alleged offences.

"I will fight until the end, there is no doubt about that," Mr Safronov wrote in a letter which was sent from Moscow’s Lefortovo prison and was dated 26 March.

"If it’s a prison term, then it’s a prison term. It absolutely doesn’t scare me,"

Mr Safronov’s trial is to resume behind closed doors later on Monday.

Russia’s independent media has already undergone tightening of controls since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February and his detention sent further chills through the media landscape.

Since sending troops into Ukraine on a “special military operation,” Moscow has introduced a law outlawing the use of certain terms to describe its military intervention in the country.

As a result, a multitude of independent media in Russia have felt the need to close or relocate elsewhere.

Meanwhile the rights group Amnesty International has called on Russian authorities to open the ongoing trial of Mr Safronov to the public.

In a statement, Amnesty expressed concern over the increasing number of trials in the country involving charges of high treason and called on authorities to release the 31-year-old.