A Tomsk scientist was convicted of "collaborating with a foreign state."

A case file has appeared on the Tomsk Regional Court website, according to which a verdict was issued on June 5. Anton Klimkin under Article 275.1 of the Russian Criminal Code – "Confidential Cooperation with a Foreign State, International, or Foreign Organization." The text of the court's decision has not yet been published, but information in the case file indicates that the case was filed in May of this year, and a verdict was issued in June. The judge Nicholas Khabarov. 

According to publicly available data, Anton Klimkin was an employee of the V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics. He participated in various international conferences on the study and application of laser technologies. Klimkin also co-authored numerous scientific articles on laser technologies.

Recently, criminal cases for treason against scientists have been churning out in droves. One of the most high-profile is the case of a 77-year-old scientist from Novosibirsk. Anatolia MaslovaHe was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security penal colony. 

According to the prosecution, in 2014, the physicist allegedly passed information about classified scientific research to German intelligence officials. Maslov has pleaded not guilty. His colleagues, lawyers, and relatives are confident of his innocence: they maintain that he did not pass on any information, and furthermore, the information cited in the indictment is not a state secret.