February 10, 2012

Russian jailed for selling missile secrets to CIA

An engineer at Russia's Plesetsk space station has been jailed for 13 years after being convicted of selling missile test data to the CIA.

Lt-Col Vladimir Nesterets, a senior test engineer at the station, was convicted of treason, Russia's FSB secret police announced.

He admitted passing on information about tests involving Russia's latest strategic missiles, it said.

Russia's missile programme has recently been hit by apparent design faults.

Plesetsk, a base in north-western Russia near the Arctic Circle, is used by the military for launching satellites into orbit and testing missiles.

The FSB (Federal Security Service) gave no further details of the case against Nesterets.

Recent years have seen embarrassing setbacks for Russia's missile programme, though not necessarily involving the Plesetsk base.

Most prominently, the submarine-launched Bulava ballistic missile was hit by a series of test failures before being finally approved in December.

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