Report: Russian-Israeli historian charged with espionage

A Russian-Israeli historian was indicted on Sept. 4 in Israel on several counts of espionage, according to Russian media reports.

Artyom Kirpichenok was taken into custody by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on Aug. 2 after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport from Russia. He is being held in the maximum security wing of Ayalon Prison, according to Russian newspaper Izvestia.

Kirpichenok is charged on several counts, including contact with foreign intelligence operatives, and has visited Iran several times, according to the report. In the fall of 2018, he spent two weeks there, Izvestia reported.

“Artem is charged with espionage under several articles that cannot be disclosed yet. These are the most serious crimes against state security,” his lawyer, Inna Lebedinskaya-Katz, told the paper.

The historian, whose focus is Zionism and Middle Eastern history, has been a consistent critic of Israel for its hostility to Iran and its policies toward Palestinians in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, according to Izvestia.

The case remains under a strict Israeli gag order, with few details permitted for publication. Prosecutors allege that foreign intelligence agencies instructed the defendant to conduct clandestine missions and influence operations on their behalf against the State of Israel, Ynet reported. A request for detention until the end of proceedings was also filed against him.

According to Ynet, Kirpichenok, 51, was born in St. Petersburg and immigrated to Israel in the 1990s. He lived in Israel for about 15 years before moving back to Russia permanently.

“His books include ‘A People’s History of Israel,’ which deals with the history of Palestine and the establishment of the Jewish state, and ‘Israel: The Road to Catastrophe,’ which examines Israeli domestic and foreign policy through a historical lens,” Ynet reported.

Family and supporters of Kirpichenok claim he is innocent.