"The US justice system has announced yet another sentence in relation to a Russian national. O.M. Tishchenko, brought earlier from Georgia to the United States, has been sentenced under unsubstantiated charges (smuggling defence products). We are deeply concerned by such a practice used by the US authorities. We are calling for abandoning it and for establishing effective cooperation between the two countries’ law enforcement agencies", the embassy said in a statement on Facebook late on Wednesday.
"[Tishchenko] is currently on his way to his motherland […] From our part, we will control the process of the Russian national’s deportation to Russia", the embassy said.
The Russian national was accused of purchasing online documentation on US military aircraft, including on the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, and subsequently selling it on eBay.
The court said that Tishchenko pleaded guilty in two of the five criminal counts of the indictment.
According to the court filing, in 2011, Tishchenko asked in an online forum for help purchasing the documents, explaining that he could not buy them abroad but needed them for creating realistic game designs. US national Kenneth Sullivan subsequently helped Tishchenko.
Tishchenko was indicted in 2016 but was detained early this year in Georgia and subsequently extradited to the United States on several charges, including conspiracy and smuggling.
On Wednesday, the Russian national was sentenced to 12 months in prison with credit for time served. The court also ruled to deport him to Russia.
