The chief executive of a Russian space technology firm has been arrested on charges of selling state secrets to a Chinese company, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said today.
Igor Reshetin has been charged with selling technology that could have been converted for military use and for failing to seek the government's approval for the deal as required by law, an FSB spokesman said.
The spokesman did not say what the technology was. Reshetin's TsNIIMASH-Export firm markets Russian space know-how abroad. Two other executives at the company have also been arrested, said the spokesman.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet Union's KGB, has in the past two years arrested several leading scientists on charges of selling state secrets.
Some rights activists say the FSB often interprets normal commercial activity as espionage. The organisation has enjoyed increased influence since former spy Vladimir Putin became Russian president in 2000.
Physicist Valentin Danilov was convicted of selling state secrets to China in 2004. Earlier that year, nuclear expert Igor Sutyagin was convicted of passing secrets to a British firm alleged to have been fronting for US intelligence.
Both scientists said the information they had supplied was freely available. Russia and China are traditional rivals, though ties between their militaries are growing close.