Ivan Safronov (1990)

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Safronov.

Ivan Ivanovich Safronov (Russian: Иван Иванович Сафронов; born 18 May 1990) is a Russian journalist. He was arrested in July 2020 on charges of treason. A Kremlin spokesman stated following the arrest that "As far as we know this is not linked to his prior journalistic activity in any way." Kommersant called the charges of treason "absurd".

Journalism and Roscosmos

Ivan Safronov worked on military reporting for Kommersant until 2019. He later became a journalist at the daily newspaper Vedomosti.

In May 2020, Safronov started work at Roscosmos as an information adviser to Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos.

Legal case

In June 2019, the Russian courts heard allegations that Kommersant had disclosed state secrets; according to the BBC, "the information reportedly had to do" with an article that included Safronov on the byline. Safronov was later fired from Kommersant over a separate article, prompting the entire politics desk of Vedomosti to resign in protest.

Safronov was arrested in July 2020 on charges of treason. Kommersant called the treason charges "absurd". On 5 September 2022 Safranov was sentenced to 22 years in prison in relation to the treason charges.

Family

Safronov's father, also named Ivan Safronov, (16 January 1956 – 2 March 2007) was a Russian journalist and columnist who covered military affairs for the daily newspaper Kommersant. He died after falling from the fifth floor of his Moscow apartment building. There were speculations that Safronov senior might have been killed for his critical reporting: the Taganka District prosecutor's office in Moscow initiated a criminal investigation into Safronov's death, and in September 2007, officially ruled his death a suicide.