MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. The former commercial director of Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation Viktor Vagan was sentenced to eight years behind bars on Friday for selling parts of high-speed air-to-air guided missiles to Ukraine, the press service of the Voskresensk City Court told TASS.
Along with Vagan, his three accomplices stood trial and were found guilty: former Director General of PJSC Turaevo Machine-building Design Bureau "SOYUZ" Nikolay Yakovlev, former deputy director general of the Southern Urals Special Disposal Center Igor Maloletkin and former executive director of the GkNIPAS state-run testing range for aviation systems Vladimir Niyazov.
"All convicts were sentenced to real prison terms in a maximum security prison: Vagan to eight years, Yakovlev - to eight years and six months, Maloletkin - to four years and six months, Niyazov - to four years," a court spokesperson said.
They were placed under detention straight in the courtroom.
Olga Dinze, a defense lawyer to one of the convicts, said the verdict would be appealed. The defense team has 10 days to do so under the Russian law.
It was proven in court that Vagan, Yakovlev, Maloletkin and Niyazov formed a group in 2010-2011 to steal parts of high-speed air-to-air missiles prepared for disposal. They were stealing missile warheads and engines.
"Later, some of those stolen elements were delivered to defense enterprises as new, and were used to assemble new products. 93 turbojet engines were sold to the territory of Ukraine," the press service said.
Two more suspects in the case - former GkNIPAS director Oleg Pronin and businessman Mikhail Dzama - entered a plea deal and were sentenced to five and two years in jail, respectively in 2018.