MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - The Kremlin has denied knowledge of the trial in Munich of a Russian scientist accused of passing information relating to the development of the launch vehicle Ariane, to Russian intelligence agencies.
When asked by journalists to comment on the beginning of the trial, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "Unfortunately, I have no information on this score."
Earlier the media reported that a Russian citizen, N. Ilnur, who was arrested in June 2021 on suspicion of spying for his country, was due to go on trial in Munich, Germany, on Thursday.
In January the Russian, who worked at a Bavarian university, was charged with espionage by the Office of the German Federal Public. According to the inquiry, prior to arrest N. Ilnur was a fellow researcher at a scientific-technical department at a university in Bavaria. "The latest was September 2019 when Russian external intelligence established contact with the accused and he consequently agreed to engage in espionage," German prosecutors said.
Russian intelligence representatives were in particular interested to know stages of the development the European LV Ariane and the developments made by the Russian researcher.