A russian scientist has been investigated and arrested by the russian Federal Security Service(
FSB). He was arrested on charges of spying and
relaying information to a corporation in South Korea. He claims he did nothing illegal and the its the FSB agents who have commited a crime by
arresting him without cause. Human rights groups in russia have noted that the dual use technology in question has been exported out of country since
the late 80's; to India in '87 and Italy in '90.
www.nature.com
Oskar Kaibyshev, founder and director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems in Ufa, could be imprisoned for ten years if he is
convicted. He says he is being accused of exporting dual-use technologies, which have both civilian and military applications, to a tyre
manufacturer.
The interrogation focused on several years of collaboration between the institute and the tyre maker ASA, a subsidiary of Hankook Tire, which is based
in Seoul. Kaibyshev says that the firm is using superplastic technology in its designs for high-pressure tyres. The technology stretches titanium
alloy to enhance its mechanical properties and, according to Kaibyshev, can be used to produce spherical tanks that can be inflated to a pressure of
1,000 atmospheres.
The institute has not had access to state secrets for two decades, Kaibyshev told the Moscow-based radio station, Ekho Moskvy. "If you need to put
somebody on trial, it should be agents of the FSB, who were fully informed of our contracts and should have warned us if there were any problems."
The FSB declined to comment, saying that it would release details of the charges against Kaibyshev next week.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
An interesting situation.
If his claims that the tech is not secret, and that the FSB knew about his long standing partnership with the South
Koreans,
then I do not think its safe to say that the FSB simply made a mistake. The superficial appearances of this instance might bear no
relationship to whats actually going on behind the scenes.
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Related News Links:
www.interfax.com
www.fas.org
www.fsb.ru
www.imsp.da.ru
[edit on 25-2-2005 by Banshee]
