moscow

A prominent Russian ecologist has had his passport seized and his laboratory sealed by the country's security services. Confidential reports and classified maps were removed from the Vladivostok apartment and laboratory of Vladimir Soyfer, who has been working on nuclear pollution in the far east of Russia for the last 40 years.

The warrant for the search states: “Since Soyfer's actions pose a threat to the state and military security of the Russian Federation, it seemed necessary to analyse his correspondence.” Material confiscated is being studied by military counter-espionage officials. This may lead to Soyfer being charged with revealing state secrets.

Security official Aleksander Kazakov has denied that he knew Soyfer's apartment was being searched, although a check on Soyfer's laboratory had been planned as a routine procedure. The Federal Security Service (FSB) have not confirmed the reports.

Kazakov says that Soyfer was informed of the time of this check, but “he did not wish to be present”. But Soyfer denies this, pointing out that he could not be present as he was being treated for diabetes at the Moscow hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to the investigation, Soyfer kept secret documents in his laboratory safe that should have been given back to officials, as well as illegal photocopies. The warrant accuses him of negligence under the Russian Criminal Code, although this does not carry a prison sentence.

A letter distributed by Aleksei Yablokov, chairman of the Social-Ecological Union, suggests that the secret services may be trying to prove that Soyfer has passed secret information to foreign agents.

Counter-admiral Nikolai Sotskov, chief of the Pacific Navy's counter-espionage department, denies this. “Neither our navy, nor the FSB, prevent anyone from monitoring the environment,” he says.

But Soyfer has had run-ins with the navy before. The author of over 200 scientific articles on radioactive pollution in the region, he has been studying the consequences of a nuclear submarine accident in the bay of Chazhma in 1985, and of radioactive waste dumped in the Japan sea. This led to a confrontation with Pacific Navy commander admiral Mikhail Zakharenko.

“Ecological investigations attract the attention of the special services, because by analysing the structure of pollution it is easy to tell what kind of secret objects — especially nuclear facilities — are nearby,” says Nikolay Ponomarev-Stepnoy, vice president of the Kurchatov Institute.