NEW YORK, June 20. /TASS/: Russian citizen Oleg Tishchenko, whom the United States accused of attempting to smuggle F-16 fighter jet manuals out of the country, has partially admitted his guilt and will be deported to Russia , according to information uploaded to the court database in Utah.
According to court filings, Tishchenko pleaded guilty to two of the five counts brought against him. The remaining three counts were lifted.
The Russian citizen was sentenced to a prison term of 12 months and 1 day. However, as he had already spent 12 months and four days in pretrial detention, the court ordered his deportation to Russia on Wednesday. No fines were imposed on him.
"Defendant shall be released into the custody of Homeland Security agents today, 6/19/2019, and they will transport Defendant to the Salt Lake International Airport for self-deportation to Russia," the verdict reads.
The Russian embassy said in a Facebook post on Wednesday night that Tishchenko is now on his way to Russia.
"We, on our part, will control the process of the Russian citizen’s deportation to Russia," the embassy said.
Russian diplomats also condemned the charges, which they described as "contrived."
"We are deeply disappointed by this practice of the US authorities. We urge to reject it in order to create efficient cooperation between law enforcement agencies of the two states," the embassy said.
Tishchenko case
The Russian citizen was detained in Georgia back in July 2018 and later extradited to the US.
According to the US, on June 22, 2011, Tishchenko posted a message on an online forum for fans of digital combat simulators, saying he planned to purchase F-16 jet manuals on eBay but needed help in shipping them to Moscow since there were some shipping restrictions for international buyers. The next day, a user nicknamed Moby agreed to ship the manuals to his US address and then send them to Russia. The US Department of Homeland Security says Moby is an American named Kenneth Sullivan.
According to the indictment, in October 2011, Sullivan said in a message on the forum that he had sent the manuals to Tishchenko. The Department of Homeland Security claims that neither the Russian nor the American tried to abide by US laws and get permission for shipping the fighter jet manuals.
The US authorities charged him in absentia on June 15, 2016.
Earlier, the Russian Embassy in the United States said it saw signs of provocations by US special services in the case against Tishchenko.
