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| | American authorities have accused 11 expatriates from the former USSR, including citizens of the Russian Federation in the illegal export of military technology to Russia. Eight of them have been arrested and three are yet to be arrested. In the USA, the authorities are confident that the assumed spies are hiding in Russia. Also, the American side has banned 165 foreign companies and individuals, associated with the suspects, in carrying out trading operations.
The prosecutor's office of NY in Brooklyn filed charges against the following 11 suspects: Alexander Fishenko, Shavkat Abdullayev, Lyudmil Bagdikyan, Anastasia Dyatlova, Svetlana Zagon, Victoria Klebanova, Sergei Klinov, Alexander Posobilov, Yury Savin, Sevin Tagiyev and Dmitry Shegrunov. Apart from this, Arc Electronic (Houston, Texas) and Apex System (Moscow) are defendants, reported on official site of the FBI USA.
46 year old Alexander Fishenko, a US citizen, is being seen as the main suspect. In 1994, Alexander Fishenko moved to the USA from Kazakhstan and obtained the citizenship of this country &and later on "became an agent of Russian intelligence". He founded the company Arc Electronics in 1998, headed it and the Apex System, registered in Moscow. During the period from 2002 to date, he supplied high end technological equipment for an amount of up to 50 million USD through Apex Systems to the Russian Federation.
The citizenship of the remaining suspects is being reviewed. The prosecutor believes that they are involved in the installation of chips and microprocessors, similar or identical to the ones developed in the U.S, on Russian anti-ship missiles and MiG-35 fighter aircraft. The electronics, which did not clear the mandatory license in USA (microprocessors etc), were supplied to Russia under the category "Goods for civil needs".
The FBI stressed that the chips can be perfectly used, for example, in military radars and surveillance systems. "The suspects tried to use the opportunities of the American free market to steal American technology for the Russian government. But the law enforcement bodies of the USA have tracked down the suspects, arrested and destroyed the network" - states attorney Loretta Lynch, reports NTV.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia refutes the espionage charges referring to the fact that the case is not related to intelligence. "With whatever information we have, the framed charges, are related to certain citizens of the Russian Federation. These charges, according to the information provided by the American side, bear a criminal nature and they are not related to any intelligence activity" - stated Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russian Federation.
Nevertheless, Alexander Fishenko may be sentenced to 55 years if guilt is proven. All the remaining suspects may be sentenced up to 20 years. Apart from this, US authorities have banned 165 foreign companies and individuals, associated with the arrested suspects, who are former citizens of the USSR and also export a variety of goods. |
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Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced last week the indictment of 11 members of a Russian 
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