Russian Whistle-Blower on Nuclear Waste Leaves Jail

A retired navy captain imprisoned 10 months ago after reporting on radioactive waste contamination by Russian nuclear submarines was freed Saturday, in a setback for the state security police.

Capt. Alexander Nikitin still faces charges of treasonous disclosure of military secrets. But his release, ordered by Russia’s deputy prosecutor-general, appeared to be “the first step, a very important step” toward exoneration, Nikitin’s lawyer said.

The case is the most notorious of several pressed over the last year--on flimsy charges--by the Federal Security Service, a KGB successor agency. It is viewed as a test of the agency’s creeping powers over citizens’ words and deeds.

International human rights and environmental groups had called Nikitin a political prisoner. President Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac quietly brought up the case with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin at a Moscow summit on nuclear safety in April.

Nikitin, 43, was arrested Feb. 6 after contributing to a report by the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian environmental group, detailing the hazards of nuclear waste disposal by Russia’s Northern Fleet. Bellona said the report was based on open sources.

The security agency said Nikitin’s chapter revealed classified data, but it refused to show him its list of classified topics. It took the case to a military court, where Nikitin was denied bail six times and faced a possible death sentence if convicted.

Saturday’s movement in the case came about two weeks after the intervention of Anatoly B. Chubais, Yeltsin’s chief of staff, who was briefed by both sides.

Last week, Deputy Prosecutor-General Mikhail Katyshev took the case from the security agency, gave it to the city prosecutor of St. Petersburg and ordered Nikitin freed from the agency’s prison in that city.

“I am 99% certain now that this case will die,” defense lawyer Yuri Schmidt said Saturday.

Nikitin was freed on the condition that he not leave St. Petersburg. He looked pale, thin and weak upon his release. But his wife said later, “He feels great.”

In court recently, Nikitin appeared dazed and complained of migraine headaches. He had been locked in a 6-square-yard cell with a prisoner who his wife suspects was a police informer.