3 Russian hypersonic rocket scientists face 'very serious charges'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from scientists in Siberia defending the three scientists, but stressed that the case was being handled by security agencies, according to Reuters.

"We have seen that appeal, but Russian special services are dealing with this issue. They are doing their job. These are very serious accusations," Mr Peskov said.

In a letter published on May 15, colleagues of the three Russian scientists Anatoly Maslov, Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev assured them of their innocence and expressed concern that the prosecution threatened to cause serious damage to Russian science.

3 nhà khoa học tên lửa bội siêu thanh Nga đối mặt ‘cáo buộc rất nghiêm trọng’ - Ảnh 1. — A Russian hypersonic missile system

"We know that each of them is a patriotic and decent person who is incapable of doing the things that the investigative agency suspects them of," the Siberian scientists wrote in the letter.

Announcements of academic conferences over the years show that the three detained scientists were regular attendees, according to Reuters. In 2012, Maslov and Shiplyuk presented the results of a test of a hypersonic missile design at a conference in France.

An open letter from their colleagues at the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk (Siberia) asserts that the documents presented by the three scientists at international forums have been checked multiple times to ensure that they do not contain information restricted from dissemination.

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Siberian scientists also said the prosecution of three hypersonic rocket scientists showed that "any article or report could lead to charges of high treason".

"In this situation, we are not only afraid for the fate of our colleagues. We really do not understand how to continue doing our work," the scientists from Serbia wrote in the letter.

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