Russian Journalists Union Urges Lifting Ban On One-Man Pickets After Safronov's Arrest

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) The Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) on Wednesday requested the authorities to consider allowing one-man protests after several journalists had been detained while protesting the arrest and high treason charges against Russian space agency official Ivan Safronov.

On Tuesday, RUJ Chairman Vladimir Solovyev told Sputnik that the union contacted the Interior Ministry for an explanation of detentions for those protesting Safronov's arrest near the Federal Security Service building. According to the ministry, one-man protests are counted as legal infractions due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

"In light of that, the Russian Union of Journalists calls on all authorized organizations to consider a possibility of lifting the prohibition against one-man protests," the union said in a statement.

According to Safronov's lawyer, investigators accuse his client, who denies the high treason claims against him, of passing information regarding Russia's defense cooperation with Africa and Russia's military activities in the middle East to Czech special services.

The US is believed to have been the ultimate recipient of the classified data.

Safronov has been serving as an information adviser to Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin since May. Roscosmos said that the detention was not related to his work for the space agency. Before Roscosmos, Safronov worked for Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers for 10 years, covering topics related to defense and space industries. Kommersant has dismissed the high treason accusations against Safronov as absurd, calling the latter a true patriot.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Safronov's case appears to have nothing to do with his previous journalistic work.