Head of closed corporation TsNIIMASh-Export Igor Reshetin was sentenced to 11.5 years in high security colony by Lefortovsky Court. The scholar and three his colleagues were found guilty in passing technology for making weapon of mass destruction, contraband, embezzlement and money laundry. During the legal proceedings, the most authoritative scientists from Russian Academy of Sciences submitted their opinions testifying that in this case there was no crime in the act.
Investigation took 4 years. In 1996 TsNIIMASh-Export concluded two contracts with the China import-export Company in the field of precision machinery industry. In accordance with the contracts, the enterprise was to carry out testing of models of returning capsules of spaceships, to calculate their aerodynamic and thermal characteristic and to present 25 technical reports to the customer. Like it is done to any international contract, the materials were submitted to the expert commission checking them for secret contents and to the export commission checking it for correspondence to the lists of technologies of twofold purpose. Both commissions approved passing the materials. The results of research were sent to China in 2002. And in December 2003 FSB started a criminal case stating that the reports contained twofold technologies.
In accordance with prosecutor Anna Kupriyanova, “the organized group made illegal export of technologies and scientific information that can be used for making weapons of mass destruction” and in respect of which strict export control is established.
A small digression: as Reshetin said at the court, his firm executed about half of all the contracts in the industry with China about peaceful space. By 2003 the contracts had totaled $30 millions and Reshetin affirmed that this amount would increase to $100 millions per year (that’s more than a half of all today’s contracts between Russia and China in the field of peaceful space). In 2002 Rosaviakosmos suggested that it would be more convenient if all working with China be done only through TsNIIMASh-Export. It appears that someone who counted on having a share in the international contracts decided that Reshetin’s firm had become a hindrance and that it had to be closed.
To an open question by the judge if someone was interested in eliminating TsNIIMASh-Export and if it was true that defense ministry and Rosvooruzhenie could have tried to remove competitors this way, Reshetin answered carefully “This opinion is close to what happened in reality”.
TsNIIMASh-Export began to be hunted after. In December 2003 the company’s office was searched by masked people. Then all kinds of controlling organizations – from tax to fire inspection – appeared being initiated by a letter from FSB. The firm’s head economist Sergei Vizir testified that female employees from controlling-inspecting department of finance ministry who came with inspection asked them with sympathy “Do you at least know who ordered all this?”
As lawyers explain, usual tactics was used: in any case on twofold technologies the accused are charged with several Clauses of the Criminal Code. Soon contraband charge was added to that of selling the military secrets (the reports were sent to China through DHL as letters and not as valuable cargo). Another charge was money laundering and embezzlement of 50,018 million rubles. TsNIIMASh-Export transferred that money to 17 subcontractors. Reshetin said it had been impossible to deal with the order without help from other organizations. FSB version is that those firms exist only on paper and they were used to take the budget money from the account.
Reshetin’s lawyer Anatoly Yablokov said that money were received as payment for commercial contract and those means cannot be called budget and embezzled accordingly. At the court Reshetin requested caustically how he could laundry the money which he had embezzled, according to the charge.
Four people were brought an accusation against them: General Director Igor Reshetin, Executive Director of the firm Sergei Tverdokhlebov, head economist Sergei Vizir and assistant in security matters Alexander Rozhkin. Later, an accusation was also brought against deputy chair of export commission at TsNIIMASh Mikhail Ivanov who signed the conclusion that the materials passed to China were no secret.
Firm’s leadership was taken into custody in October 2005. Igor Reshetin and Sergei Vizir had spent two years in Lefortovo prison before the sentence was announced.
In the criminal case file where “grieved party” must be indicated there is a mark “no grieved party”. The only grieved party who was damaged as a result of “criminal activity” by a group of scholars was scholars themselves.
Atmospheric pressure of high security
Visits in Lefortovo are allowed twice a month and only to a few visitors with the duration of two hours. If you come there at 3 a.m. you may be one of the first and get your meeting.
”I tell my son to work anyway and I bring him articles to Lefortovo prison” says Igor Reshetin’s father.
Recent papers by Igor Reshetin were published when he was in the pre-trial prison. His scientific sphere is aero-gas-dynamics in the field of jets. Experiments made for China about aerocapture by spacecraft is not exactly his sphere. And his father, Professor Andrei Reshetin, has been engaged most part of his life with what his son was sentenced for: aerodynamics and ballistics of the decent modules. Working with Sergei Korolev, Andrei Reshetin dealt with designing all manned spacecraft from Vostok to Soyuz. He was one of those preparing launching of the first satellite and spaceflight of Gagarin.
”I joined the Communist Party at one party meeting with Korolev” recalls Andrei Georghievich. “I had no problems, but he had previous conviction and was considered unreliable. They interrogated him long. I remember he began to say something and the secretary of the party organization interrupted him ‘Keep silence for the moment, Sergei Palytsch’. He said that to the Chief Designer! Well, we have been keeping silence since then”.
From the childhood it was obvious that Igor Reshetin would follow his father’s steps. Their home was visited by scholars, cosmonauts, discussed were the Moon and the Mars exploration programs and there was a huge scientific library. Igor graduated from physicotechnical institute and began to work in TsNIIMASh. He got promoted to become deputy chief of the laboratory and published many scientific works.
”I am proud of my son” Andrei Georghievich says. “We have brought him up well. I can use sharp words and he restrains from it. He has mild disposition like his mother. Once at the court he lost his cool and elevated his voice but apologized immediately.”
In his time, Reshetin the senior could not even tell his family when he went to Baikonur and the son did not know for many years what his father was engaged in. “Even during cold war times it was clearly indicated what information was closed and what was open” recalls Reshetin.
The court
All large profile institutes submitted their opinion that passed to China information is not secret and is not a technology, but only data obtained by experiments. Andrei Georghievich turns over the pages in the volumes with documents signed by academician Yuri Ryzhov, dean of MAI Oleg Alifanov, former Director of Central aerodynamic institute Vladimir Neiland (one of the creators of Buran), Chief Designer at the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering, one of the founders of Topol rocket, Yuri Solomonov. Russian Space Agency presented its conclusion confirming Reshetin’s guiltlessness. There is also bibliography attached of the wide-access literature dedicated to the “closed” technology – it’s 62 monographs.
However, it’s far from all opinions that the court has taken into consideration. Most of favorable ones were put aside as insignificant, while all negative opinions were filed in the case. Some scientists, after several examinations made with them, changed their statements. Andrei Georghievich does not blame them.
Two tens of scholars, academicians and cosmonauts vouched for Reshetin. Nevertheless, he was refused to be released from the pre-trial prison. The reasoning was the heaviness of the charges against him and the operative information that Reshetin was going to escape from the country in spite the fact his international passport had been confiscated by FSB.
I ask carefully Andrei Georghievich: could your son foresee all that and have left before the arrest? “Where would he go? He is Russian” the father said.
Victims
It’s from the beginning that the legal proceedings were done not in the city of Korolev where the defendant lives and not in Moscow City Court but in Lefortovo Court controlled by FSB. Initially, court hearings were made twice a week and starting from November 2007 it was done everyday.
It would take 4-5 hours to take Reshetin from pre-trial prison to the court situated on the neighboring street: first, other inmates were brought in a crowded metal van to Moscow courts, and Reshetin and Vizir were brought to their destination last. In summer Reshetin, who suffers from ischemic heart disease and hypertension, fell unconscious right in the court. When court proceedings became daily, the prison medical assistants recorded two heart attacks a week. After one of such attacks Reshetin petitioned for rarer court proceedings, but the judge refused it.
There have been two deaths in this case: after two months spent in Lefortovo Sergei Tverdokhlebov signed voluntary confession, was released and soon died of a heart attack in the age of 47. And Mikhail Ivanov’s wife died too. As Reshetin said in one of the proceedings, in his age and health condition any sentence is a death sentence.
When Reshetin got accused, his mother fell seriously ill and Reshetin the senior began to lose his sight.
”Could you see if I have dialed correctly?” he asks me looking into the screen of his cellular phone. He has just failed to read the plate on the court’s wall with characters ten times bigger.
”Let me dial it for you”. “No, I must learn to do it by myself”.
Sentence
Passing of sentence took about 6 hours: it’s not in vain that up to 27 investigators had worked for 4 years about 48 volumes of the criminal case. Mere recitation of the Clauses from Criminal Code, incriminated to the accused, took about three minutes.
Camera crews of all official TV channels attended the final proceeding. People in the crowded hall were indignant “they will show again that the academician-spy has been caught”.
”And at the end the lawyer said that the sentence is unjust and they would appeal. Generally, all went ok” a TV man was saying into his cellular.
”One is Reshetin and what’s the other’s name? No one can tell me…” his colleague was attempting to find out.
There was a lot of smiling at the court. Reshetin smiled at his relatives going to the cage in the hall of court. The accused and lawyers smiled when hearing especially ridiculous formulas.
At the end, the judge was reading out impartially: academician, no previous convictions, married, positive reference from employer…No aggravating circumstances, mitigating circumstances: age and health condition. So the punishment is minimum – 11.5 years in a high security prison: 4 years under the criminal Clause for twofold technologies, and the rest for economic crimes. If everything had been added up, it would be a life sentence. Sergei Vizir, 45, got 11 years, Mikhail Ivanov, 66, and Alexander Rozhkin, 51, got each 5 years of minimum security prison. They both were taken into custody at the court: Ivanov came there in his house dress.
“This is ridiculous!” Reshetin the senior stands in the middle of the getting empty court’s corridor. “This information is the book read long ago. We studied it 30 years ago. It’s commonly known!”
…The license for cosmic activity by TsNIIMASh-export expired in 2005. In accordance with the new license, the firm has the right to finish the works under its previous contracts but it is not eligible to take the new orders. The employees say they will be working about a couple of months and after that it will be all over. And someone somewhere must be sharing out the new international orders.
Call and answer
Alexander Kraiko, professor, Chief of Department at the Central aero-hydrodynamic institute after N.E.Zhukovsky:
”I have seen all the reports sent to China. The information they contain was published in the widely-accessed print in Russian and in the USA. We can’t speak seriously about passing twofold technologies. Chinese customers were interested to know how the models of space modules would perform under various conditions. TsNIIMASh-export only made experiments in wind tunnel and sent to the customers a report of the results”.
On the contrary, thanks to this contract Russia got information about what technologies China possesses.
Reference by Novaya Gazeta
TsNIIMASh-Export Company was founded in 1991 under TsNII of machine building, or TsNIIMASh, which is the largest Russian enterprise in the field of missile and space industry.
In the 90’s, TsNIIMASh began to fall to pieces: it got into debts, the wages were not paid and the employees started to leave. It was necessary to find the orders for research. With that purpose, head of TsNIIMASh Vladimir Utkin ordered to create a mediatory company TsNIIMASh-Export managed by Igor Reshetin. It found oversea customers (space dealing enterprises in the USA, China, France, Italy, India), concluded contracts and “hired” TsNIIMASh employees securing them with wages. Only one contract with China, due to which four company’s employees got sentenced, got employed two hundred workers of TsNIIMASh whose General Director Nikolai Anfimov says he is grateful to Reshetin and that in the 90’s the Chinese orders helped the institute to survive.
Reshetin’s firm has completed over 120 orders during 15 years.
Scientists charged with state secret divulgence and selling secret technologies
Convicted:
Igor Sutyagin, head of sector in the division of military-political research at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The court didn’t take into account that the information had been taken from newspapers and magazines. 5 April 2004 Sutyagin was sentenced to 15 years of high security colony.
Valentin Danilov, physicist from Krasnoyarsk city. He was accused of divulging state secret and fraud, on the ground of signed by him agreement with China relating to the system of protection of Russian spacecraft against solar radiation. Despite the fact that all used by him data had been declassified long ago, Danilov was sentenced in November 2004 to 14 years of high security prison.
Anatoly Babkin, professor at Moscow State Technical University after Bauman. He was charged with treason for passing intelligence about speed submarine rocket Shkval to a USA resident. He was put on parole for eight years.
Oskar Kaibyshev, director of Bashkir Institute of Superplasticity of Metals. He was charged with illegal export of technologies to South Korea and large-scale embezzlement of state funds. In 2006 he was put on a parole for 6 years.
Vladimir Shchurov, chief of laboratory at the Pacific Oceanological Institute. In October 1999 he was accused of state secret divulgence for selling to China modules capable of detecting noise waves from submarines. Special Panel by the Academy of Sciences concluded that all the materials were taken by the scholar from open sources. In spite of that, Shchurov was put on a parole for two years in August 2003 and he was released under amnesty.
Acquitted:
Vil Mirzayanov, professor at the Research Institute of Organic Chemistry. In 1992 he published a paper in Moscow News about development of binary weapon in Russia. In his article he stated that Russia continued research in spite of international agreements. After that the scholar was dismissed and accused of high treason. 11 March 1994 the criminal case against him was closed due to absence of crime in the act.
Oleg Korobeinitchev, head of laboratory at the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Burning at the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. Investigation said that the scholar had published in the USA the works containing secret intelligence in the field of rocket fuel burning. Korobeinitchev and his colleagues affirmed they did not understand in what exactly work they had dealt with secret intelligence.
Case was closed in March 2007 in the absence of crime in the act.
Oleg and Igor Minins. A compiled by Novosibirsk physicists popular science brochure about scientific achievements by the Institute of applied physics, printed in a number of 50 copies, became the ground for legal persecution. The manuscript had been checked for secrecy by the special division at the State Technical University where Minins work. The brothers’ lawyer said that all the data had been taken from encyclopedia “Weapons and Technologies of Russia. 21st Century” edited by Sergei Ivanov, that time defense minister.
Despite that, FSB started a criminal case about divulgence of a state secret. 10 days later the case was closed in the absence of crime in the act.
Vladimir Soifer, head of laboratory of nuclear oceanology at the Pacific Oceanologic Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was accused of state secret divulgence in October 1999. Investigation found him to possess documents threatening state security. 11 February 2000 Sovetsky District court of Vladivostok City refused starting a criminal case “considering the honorable age of the suspect”. However, the scholar insisted on consideration the case in the court and he won the proceedings: 19 December 2000 the professor was acquitted.
