Space engineer Vladimir Nesterets, who passed secret missile data from Russia on to the CIA, has been jailed for 13 years.
Nesterets confessed he was paid to pass information about Moscow’s latest strategic missile systems on to US intelligence. Analysts said the security breach was a significant blow for Russia because its armed forces use the northern Plesetsk cosmodrome, where Nesterets was based, to test and launch every type of missile in production today. “This is the Russian strategic missile forces’ main launch site,” independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said. “All current mobile systems and their warheads are launched from and tested at Plesetsk.” The military is currently developing a new generation of missiles and warheads that Moscow hopes will soon replace the ageing Soviet-era arsenal.