A Russian court has sentenced two physicists to 12 and a half years in prison after finding them guilty of treason related to their work on hypersonic weapons technology, according to state media reports released Tuesday.
The convicted scientists are Valery Zvegintsev, 82, and Vladislav Galkin, 71, both of whom conducted research that helped develop Russia’s advanced missile systems. Their case represents the most recent prosecution in an ongoing series of treason charges targeting researchers who study ultra-high-speed flight technology.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has frequently highlighted his country’s leadership in hypersonic missile production, weapons that Russia has used in its conflict with Ukraine. These advanced missiles can reach speeds up to 10 times faster than sound, allowing them to penetrate defensive systems.
Zvegintsev held a senior position at the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk, a Siberian research center. Two of his former colleagues from the same institute, Anatoly Maslov and Alexander Shiplyuk, received prison sentences of 14 and 15 years respectively in 2024.
Galkin was employed at a different Siberian university and had collaborated on research papers with both Zvegintsev and Shiplyuk.
Russian authorities have pursued treason charges against at least 10 scientists working in hypersonics research over the past ten years. This field focuses on flight speeds that exceed Mach 5, which translates to more than 3,800 miles per hour.
Both men maintained their innocence throughout the proceedings. Their supporters argue that the scientists’ published research and participation in international conferences had received prior approval from Russian security agencies.
Colleagues at the Novosibirsk institute took the unusual step of publishing an open letter in 2023, defending the arrested researchers’ innocence. They warned that these prosecutions were harming Russian scientific progress and discouraging young scholars from pursuing careers in the field.
