POLITICS: Russian security arrests institute head for spying

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Oskar Kaibyshev, founder and director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems in Ufa, could be imprisoned for ten years if he is convicted. He says he is being accused of exporting dual-use technologies, which have both civilian and military applications, to a tyre manufacturer.
The interrogation focused on several years of collaboration between the institute and the tyre maker ASA, a subsidiary of Hankook Tire, which is based in Seoul. Kaibyshev says that the firm is using superplastic technology in its designs for high-pressure tyres. The technology stretches titanium alloy to enhance its mechanical properties and, according to Kaibyshev, can be used to produce spherical tanks that can be inflated to a pressure of 1,000 atmospheres.
The institute has not had access to state secrets for two decades, Kaibyshev told the Moscow-based radio station, Ekho Moskvy. "If you need to put somebody on trial, it should be agents of the FSB, who were fully informed of our contracts and should have warned us if there were any problems."
The FSB declined to comment, saying that it would release details of the charges against Kaibyshev next week.








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