Only Four Percent of Russians Charged with Espionage or Treason had Access to State Secrets, ‘Vyorstka’ Study Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 29 – Only one in every 25 of people who have been charged by Russian prosecutors with espionage or treason – a mere four percent in all -- had access to state secrets before their arrests, according to a comprehensive study by Vyorstka of these cases, an indication of how Moscow is using an elastic definition against its opponents.

            Since the beginning of 2022, it says, Russian prosecutors have brought charges of high treason, espionage and cooperate with foreign states against at least 1904 individuals, the independent portal says, even though most have no connection with state secrets. Two thirds of them are Russian citizens; the remainder, Ukrainian ones.

(For Vyorstka’s extremely detailed 10,000-word report, perhaps the most comprehensive in the public domain, see verstka.media/issledovanie-vyorstki-o-presledovanii-po-delam-svyazannym-s-gosbezopasnostyu; for its highlights, see nemoskva.net/2026/07/29/lish-4-figurantov-novyh-del-o-gosizmene-imeli-dostup-k-gostajne/.)

            Not only have the use of such charges increased over the past four years but the severity of punishments have as well. In 2022, the average sentence on conviction for such trumped up charges was 12 years. So far this year Vyorstka reports, the average sentences has increased from that level by more than four years to 16.

            According to the investigation, members of Russia’s scientific community are especially at risk of facing such charges. Since the start of Putin’s expanded war in Ukraine, at least 15 of them have been accused of high treason. Two thirds of these were 60 or older at the time of their arrest.