Russian Scientists Sentenced to 12.5 Years in Prison Over Article Published in Iranian Journal

Verdict Handed Down by the Novosibirsk Regional Court

According to Главком: Two Russian researchers, Valery Zvegintsev and Vladislav Galkin, have been convicted of high treason and each sentenced to 12.5 years in a strict-regime penal colony. The criminal charges stemmed from a co-authored paper on gas dynamics that appeared in an Iranian journal. Before publication, the article underwent two separate expert reviews, neither of which flagged any classified information.

Zvegintsev serves as a chief research fellow at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, while Galkin works as an associate professor at Tomsk Polytechnic University. In addition to the prison terms, the court imposed a 1.5-year restriction on their freedom. Both scientists were originally detained in 2023.

Debate Over Academic Freedom Intensifies

The paper that triggered the prosecution focused on air intakes for supersonic aircraft. Notably, the technologies described in the publication are used in the development of the Kinzhal, Zircon, Avangard, and Sarmat missiles. Zvegintsev also founded the High-Speed Aerogasdynamics laboratory at ITAM, which further drew scrutiny to their work.

Two other researchers, Alexander Shiplyuk and Anatoly Maslov, had previously been arrested in connection with separate treason cases. As ITAM staff members noted,

“the scientists are being accused of activities that the rest of the world considers essential to rigorous, high-quality research-presenting at international seminars and conferences, publishing in top-tier journals, and taking part in global scientific projects.”

The Zvegintsev and Galkin case has become a landmark event in the context of Russian scientific work, sparking broad discussion about the limits of academic freedom. This situation could have lasting repercussions for Russian science, particularly by discouraging international collaboration and limiting researchers' participation in global scholarly exchanges, as fear of prosecution may lead scientists to avoid publishing or presenting abroad.