Russian Jets over Syria Tied to Spy Trial?

By ILYA KEYGEN

The Russian MiG fighter jets flying over Syria may be using technology illegally obtained from the United States, according to testimony in Brooklyn Federal Court on Thursday.

A new piece of evidence was shown to the jury in the trial of Alexander Fishenko,  former CEO of Arc Electronics Inc. accused of illegally sending over $50 million in technology to Russia, which was then sold to the Russian military.

The Triquint Power Amplifier, a tiny microchip a little bigger than a quarter, is used in the nose of Russia’s fighter jets for multiple target radar capabilities.

Alexander Fishenko, 49, was the head Arc Electronics Inc., a Texas based electronics Export Company. At the same, Fishenko was a part owner of Apex Systems LLC, a Moscow based procurement firm. Fishenko, along with 10 others on trial, used these two companies to ship over American electronics to Russia illegally, prosecutors said.

These electronics included analog-to-digital converters, static random access memory chips, micro controllers and microprocessors. These are items that Russia does not produce on its own but uses them in radar and surveillance systems, weapon guidance systems and detonation triggers.

Fishenko immigrated to the United States in 1994 and became a naturalized citizen in 2003. He founded Arc in 1998 and began the illegal transactions in 2002 until 2012. During the time, Arc claimed to American suppliers that they produced benign products like traffic lights instead of being an export company.

One of the defendants, Alexander Posobilov, was arrested in George Bush International Airport in Houston while trying to fly out to Singapore. He was then going to fly to Hong Kong, followed by Moscow and then back to the United States.

“His luggage contained hard drives and floppy disks,” said Olga Kendall, a special agent for the FBI. “When we searched his luggage he complied with us and fully understood his Miranda Rights.”

The U.S. has strict laws that apply to exports of electronic goods. The defendants used false information to purchase the goods and concealed the fact that they were exporters. Then, according to the indictment, they falsely classified the goods they exported on export records that were submitted to the Department of Commerce.

 

The defendants are facing five years on conspiracy charges, 20 years on obstruction of justice charges, and 20 years for each IEEPA and AECA charge. Fishenko is also facing an additional 20 years for conspiring to commit money laundering and 10 years for acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.