Igor Vyacheslavovich Sutyagin (; born 17 January 1965) is a Russian arms control and

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s specialist. In 1998, he became the head of the subdivision for Military-Technical and Military-Economic Policy at the

Institute for US and Canadian Studies Institute for US and Canadian Studies (Russian: Институт США и Канады РАН, ''Institut SShA i Kanadi RAN'') is a Russian think tank which is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, specializing on the comprehensive American s ...

of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where he worked before he was arrested for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

on accusations he had given information to a British company, although he had no access to classified documentation as a civilian researcher.The Chekist Takeover of the Russian State
Anderson, Julie (2006), International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, 19:2, 237 - 288. Sutyagin spent 11 years in prison on espionage charges and was released by Russia in 2010 in exchange for the release of a group of spies arrested in the United States. As of 2018, Sutyagin is a Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London.

Background and trial

With a degree in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

as well as

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, Sutyagin worked on topics relating to U.S. and Russian

s development, deployment and control and he is a co-author of a well-respected book on the Russian strategic nuclear forces. In October 1999, the

Russian Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterint ...

detained Sutyagin and brought charges of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

against him. They alleged that Sutyagin passed classified information to a London-based firm, Alternative Futures. Sutyagin acknowledged working with the company, but he said that all information about nuclear submarines he disclosed was based on material in the open literature and that, not having a security clearance, he never had access to classified sources. In 2004, after a trial, a

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

in Moscow unanimously found Sutyagin guilty of espionage. The jury found that Sutyagin disclosed secret information to

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

officers Shaun Kidd and Nadya Lokk, and that Sutyagin was paid for this. The court sentenced Sutyagin to 15 years of imprisonment. In December 2005 Sutyagin was transferred to a penal colony in Kholmogory near

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

Reactions

Sutyagin was listed as a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

. Human Rights Watch stated that "the FSB showed little respect for Sutiagin’s

right to a fair trial A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...

: the charges against him were vaguely worded; his assertion that he only used open sources were never verified; investigators based the charges on secret decrees that Sutiagin was not allowed to see; the FSB violated numerous rules of criminal procedure; and officials publicly denounced Sutiagin as a spy prior to and during his trial. Human rights activists argued that he had no access to secrets and had been working openly with academics.

US–Russia spy swap

On 9 July 2010, Sutyagin along with three other pardoned agents was released by Russia in exchange for the release of 10 people arrested in the United States of spying for Russia. Sutyagin had always maintained his innocence but agreed to sign an admission of guilt as part of the deal. Sutyagin reports that he had been asked to sign a pardon request falsely admitting guilt as early as 2005. Shortly after his release, he told

RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

in an interview in August 2010, he just had been working for money. ("They criticize me for earning money.") Sutyagin hopes to rejoin his wife Irina Manannikova and daughters Oksana and Anastasiya. The US State Department does not consider Sutyagin to be a spy. In 2011,

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

has found violations of Articles 5 and 6 of

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

by Russian authorities in Sutyagin's case.

References

External links

Support Igor Sutyagin website

Case 52

The Igor Sutyagin Affair
(Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutyagin, Igor 1965 births 20th-century Russian physicists Living people Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Russia Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights cases involving Russia Russian prisoners and detainees People of the Defense Intelligence Agency Inmates of Lefortovo Prison Soviet physicists Russian people convicted of espionage People convicted of treason against Russia

Background and trial

Reactions

US–Russia spy swap

See also

References

External links