Moscow Court Gives Ex-Head of Ukraine Defense Plant Six Years for Espionage

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A former head of Ukraine's Znamya defense enterprise, 73-year-old Yuriy Soloshenko, was on Wednesday sentenced to 6 years in prison for espionage by the Moscow City Court, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the courtroom.

According to local media reports, Soloshenko holds Ukrainian citizenship. Details of the case are classified.

"Soloshenko was detained by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in August 2014 in Moscow while trying to acquire classified parts of the S-300 missile defense system. He was acting on behalf of the Nebo Ukrainy corporation, and the products set to be bought were intended for the restoration of Ukrainian air defense," the FSB said in a statement.

According to the FSB, it is not the first case in which Russian security services have prevented Ukrainian citizens from acquiring and smuggling military hardware.

In December 2014, the FSB thwarted a Ukrainian citizen’s attempt to acquire parts for an air defense missile system S-300 and Buk-M1. Under a court ruling, Ukrainian national Denis Danchenko was deported from Russia.

S-300 is a family of air defense missile systems capable of engaging aerial targets from helicopters to cruise and ballistic missiles.