A court in Russia sentenced two scientists to long jail terms for selling military secrets to China.
The scientists, Yevgeny Afanasyev from the Baltic State Technical University and his colleague Svyatoslav Bobyshev, were both found guilty of high treason by a St. Petersburg Court, reported state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
According to the court, the two gave military secrets to China, including sensitive data on the Bulava nuclear missile system.
The court sentenced Bobyshev to 12 years in prison and Afanasyev to 12 years and six months, reported Reuters.
Specifically, the two were convicted of handing over classified information on the Bulava sea-based ballistic missile system to Chinese intelligence officers for around $7,000.
The presiding judge said the secret information could be used by the Chinese military to detect Russian submarines armed with the Bulava system, reported Reuters.
The two pleaded not guilty and their lawyers said they would appeal the decision. They have been in police custody since March 2010.
Setting up the Bulava missile system has been problematic for Russia; there were six failures in flight tests up until 2009. Last August, Russia successfully conducted the first full-range missile test.
