A spokesman for the head of the Russian space agency has been arrested for treason, the agency says.
Roskosmos said in a statement (in Russian) that former journalist Ivan Safronov's arrest was not linked to his current job there.
Russian security service the FSB said he was suspected of espionage for a Nato country, Ria news agency said.
Safronov used to be a military reporter at the business dailies Kommersant and Vedomosti.
However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC: “As far as we know this is not linked to his prior journalistic activity in any way.”
Safronov joined Roskosmos as information adviser to director general Dmitry Rogozin in the middle of May.
The space agency said it was helping investigators with their inquiries.
The former journalist faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Ria quoted an FSB statement as saying Safronov was believed to have been working for the security services of an unspecified Nato country.
“He gathered and passed to its representative classified information about military-technical co-operation, defence and security of the Russian Federation,” it said.
Interfax news agency quoted an FSB source as saying Safronov was called in for questioning by the FSB a year ago but there was no suggestion of criminal charges at the time.
However, in June 2019, court proceedings were held over the alleged disclosure by Kommersant of information constituting a state secret.
The information reportedly had to…
