ìRussian Researcher Convicted of Spying: Defense Says Information Was Public,î by Peter Baker, Washington Post, 6 April, p. A11.

Igor Sutyagin is a Russian Tom Barnett, or basically a defense analyst with an aggressively curious mind and a determined bent. The charges leveled against him by the Russian Government strike most objective observers as ìtrumped up.î

For allegedly engaging in research on Russian nuclear submarines and missiles for a British company that the Russian Government insists was a front for U.S. intelligence, he now faces a 20-year sentence.

Unfortunately for Sutyagin, the Russian legal system has yet to shake out all the tricky nuances regarding what is and is not reasonably considered ìclassifiedî information, as their recent rulings on this subject suggest a very indeterminate rule set.

I am personally sorry to see Igor subjected to this fate, because I consider him a person of great honor. He was my host during a week I spent in Moscow in the summer of 1996, interviewing Russian Navy admirals about the future of U.S.-Russian naval cooperation. He struck me as a typical Russian analyst: personally quite warm and very dedicated to his craft.

I wish him well in this difficult time.