St Petersburg university professors found guilty of handing missile secrets to China

Two Russian university professors were today found guilty of handing over missile secrets to China, the latest in a string of espionage cases that reflected underlying tensions between Moscow and Beijing despite declarations of cooperation and friendship.

The St.Petersburg City Court convicted Yevgeny Afanasyev and Svyatoslav Bobyshev of treason and sentenced them to 12-and-a-half and 12 years in prison respectively.

The two professors of St.Petersburg's Baltic State Technological University were accused of selling confidential information related to Russia's latest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava, to representatives of China's military intelligence.
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After decades of Cold War-era rivalry, Moscow and Beijing have developed what they call a strategic partnership after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

China also has become a major customer for Russian weapons industries, although Russian arms exports have drained in recent years as China has sought to produce unlicensed copycat versions of Russian weapons.

Russia also has refrained from providing China with some of the latest military technologies, and a number of Russian scientists have been convicted of spying for China in recent years.