Ukrainian jailed in Russia for spying for SBU, Russians say

December17200920:35

The court passed a mild sentence, Russians say, because the Ukrainian cooperated with the investigation. Mykola Arkhipov was arrested on June 12, 2009 when Russian border guards found the drawings and a part of the missile in the rail car in which he was traveling to Ukraine.  

The missile part was an infra-red lamp which is a key element of the Russian AA missile’s identification system.

The Kyiv-based Adron Co. was created by a group of former officers who had served in Ukraine’s air defense troops. The company is engaged in designing and modernizing AA weapons. The Russians have accused the Ukrainian company of trying to establish informal contacts with a number of Russian defense companies.

To lay his hands on the hush-hush documents and equipment, the Russians say, Arkhipov, acting on behalf of a dummy Russian company, signed an agreement on cooperation with a company producing AA missiles. He obtained the documents and the lamp allegedly for further development inside Russia.

A representative of the Russian defense industry said at the trial that had the Russian know-how been smuggled to Ukraine, “it would have found its way to the USA or NATO member states.”

By contrast, Ukrainian security experts say SBU is banned by the law to look for secret information abroad.

Experts also say Ukraine is not interested in such identification systems since this Soviet technology is known in Ukraine.