Moscow Court Excludes From Safronov's Warrant Claims He Cooperated With Czech Intelligence

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) The Moscow City Court ruled on Thursday to exclude from high treason suspect Ivan Safronov's arrest warrant the claims that he cooperated with the Czech intelligence.

Earlier in the day, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of a district court to place Safronov in custody as a pre-trial restriction, rejecting the appeals of his legal defense.

"To exclude information that the accused person maintained long-term cooperation with a Czech intelligence staffer," judge Natalia Konovalova read out the ruling.

Safronov, a former military journalist and now an aide to Russian space agency Roscosmos chief, was detained on July 7 and placed in custody until September 6 on the same day.

According to the Russian Federal Security Service, Safronov is suspected of handing classified information about Russia's defense sector to a special service of a NATO country. Safronov's legal defense said soon after his detention that he is suspected of passing information about Russia's arms deliveries to Africa to Czech special services, with the United States claimed to be the end recipient of the information.