MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin has said he will not vouch for Viktor Kudryavtsov, the TsNIIMASH researcher arrested on suspicion of treason.
"Personal vouching is possible whenever there's an economic crime, whenever I know a person and am sure he is decent. There have been moments in my life when I personally vouched for colleagues I knew and whose decency I did not doubt. I do not know Mr. Kudryavtsev, and the charges brought against him are not economic," Rogozin told RBC.
According to Rogozin, Kudryavtsev's arrest was not related to his appointment as head of Roscosmos, as the rule of state secrecy applies to all.
"There is no connection between the arrest of Kudryavtsev and my appointment. The Federal Security Service is conducting the investigation. Many people at TsNIIMASH and Roscosmos care about the future of this researcher, but one must remember the strict rules of state security and secrecy. Everyone, both young and old, must observe them," Rogozin said.
Rogozin did not say which aspects of Kudryavtsev's work might have caught the attention of law enforcement.
"As a rule, security services ask us for technical evaluations, because only technical specialists can say how critical the information transferred abroad is. We provide evaluation in such cases," he said.
Rogozin warned Roscosmos researchers against "infantile openness" in publishing their work in science magazines with no regard for national security.
"The infantile openness of some of our researchers sometimes amazes me. They're even ready to divulge strategic information in the pursuit of getting published in a foreign magazine. I have always believed that one should be extremely careful whenever critical research is at stake," he said.