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Eight detained in US on charges of microelectronics smuggling to Russia

Only one detainee - a Kazakhstan born businessman Alexander Fishenko - has the Russian passport

WASHINGTON, October 4 (Itar-Tass) — Eight people charged with being involved in a scheme to illegally export microelectronics from the United States to Russia’s military and intelligence services were detained, the press service of the U.S. Justice Department told Itar-Tass.

Only one detainee - a Kazakhstan born businessman Alexander Fishenko - has the Russian passport.

The 46-year-old Fishenko, the owner of the Texas-based firm Arc Electronics, is among seven others, who are being held in custody by the U.S. authorities in Houston.

Among defendants are employees of Fishenko’s firm – 34-year-old Shavkat Abdullayev, 58-year-old Lyudmila Bagdikyan, 38-year-old Anastasiya Dyatlova, 31-year-old Svetlana Zagon, 37-year-old Viktoria Klebanova, 58 year-old Alexander Posobilov and 32 year-old Sevindzh Tagiyeva.

Fishenko, Posobilov and Klebanov are naturalized U.S. citizens. Posobilov previously had the passport of Azerbaijan.

The charges were brought by the U.S. authorities against another three people, who were still being sought – Sergei Klinov and Dmitry Shegurov from Apex System and Yuri Savin from Atrilor. The two firms are headquartered in Moscow.

The indictment alleges that since October 2008, Fishenko and other defendants “engaged in a surreptitious systematic conspiracy” to obtain the U.S. high-tech electronics without any licensing requirements.

The U.S. Commerce Department has already added 164 individuals and companies to a U.S. export control list.

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