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A Russian court has convicted a scientist of treason after allegedly passing information on Russia’s hypersonic weapons technology to foreign officials.

What’s the deal: Alexander Shiplyuk, a prominent Russian physicist and director of the Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, was sentenced to 15 years in a penal colony by a Moscow court. He was convicted of state treason for allegedly passing classified information on hypersonic weapons technology to foreign officials, possibly during a 2017 scientific conference in China. In addition to the prison sentence, Shiplyuk was fined 500,000 rubles and sentenced to an additional “1.5 years of restricted freedom.”

One of many: Shiplyuk’s arrest and sentence are part of a broader crackdown on scientists in Russia. In 2022, Anatoly Maslov, a 77-year-old chief research fellow at the same institute, was also arrested and charged with high treason. He received a 14-year sentence in a penal colony after Russian authorities accused him of sharing classified data on Russia’s hypersonic missile program with Germany.

Shiplyuk & Maslov worked together: Reports suggest that Shiplyuk and Maslov were involved in crucial aspects of Russia’s hypersonic missile program, particularly focusing on integrating sensors, navigation systems, and propulsion.

Digging Deeper: In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in the arrests of Russian scientists on treason charges, especially those working on sensitive military research. Besides Shiplyuk and Maslov, over a dozen other senior scientists have been detained or have died unexpectedly, many of whom were involved in advanced nuclear, space, and hypersonic missile projects.