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Man jailed for 11 years in US for selling microelectronics to Russia

Posobilov and two other suspects in the case were found guilty on all counts in October 2015

© EPA/ITAR-TASS

NEW YORK, March 1. /TASS/. A resident of the United States, Alexander Posobilov, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for importing microelectronics to Russia and a conspiracy to launder money, said John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York.

"Earlier today in United States District Court in Brooklyn, Alexander Posobilov was sentenced to 135 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to export and illegally exporting controlled microelectronics to Russia, as well as for conspiring to launder money," he said.

The spokesman did not elaborate on the 62-year-old suspect’s nationality, saying only that his case files contain no mention of possible deportation to Russia.

Posobilov, together with ten other individuals, was a suspect in the case against two firms, ARC Electronics and Apex System, whom the US authorities suspect of purchasing and exporting advanced dual-purpose electronics worth about $50 million to Russia between Octover 2008 and October 2012. These commodities have applications and are frequently used in a wide range of military systems, including radar and surveillance systems, missile guidance systems and detonation triggers.

According to US authorities, ARC’s largest clients were certified suppliers of military equipment for the Russian Ministry of Defense and a research unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

Posobilov and two other suspects in the case were found guilty on all counts in October 2015. Of the remaining seven suspects four have been detained and pleaded guilty and three fled the United States and remain at large.

In July 2016, ARC Electronics owner Alexander Fishchenko, who has a dual Russian-US citizenship, was sentenced to ten years in prison and a fine of more than $500,000.

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