Ukraine Denies Involvement In Attempted Smuggling Of Russian Air Defence Device

KIEV, Ukraine -- Chief of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has refuted the information about the involvement of the SBU into an attempt by employers of a Ukrainian company to smuggle from Russia technical documents and a sample of a state-of-the-art Russian device capable of protecting aircraft from interception by man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).
"I officially deny this information. The SBU has no relation to this citizen and to the situation reported in mass media," the SBU chief told reporters in Kyiv on Friday.He also said that Ukraine is ready to help Russia investigate the incident, as soon as Russia's Prosecutor General's Office or Federal Security Service (FSB) sends a relevant request.Russian media reported earlier referring to a source that employers of a Ukrainian company tried to smuggle technical documents and a sample of a state-of-the-art Russian device capable of protecting aircraft from interception by man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).The Volodarsky District Court in Bryansk found Mykola Arkhipov, the general director of the Ukrainian research and production company Adron, guilty of smuggling and sentenced him to five months in prison on November 16, a source involved in investigating the case told Interfax on Thursday.Arkhipov tried to smuggle documents and an experimental sample of an infrared lamp playing the key role in Russian anti-MANPADS devices, he said.The media also said that Arkhipov had maintained close ties with two Ukrainian Security Service officers specializing on providing counterintelligence support to Ukraine's military-technological cooperation with other countries. Arkhipov himself confessed that his company had been collecting scientific and technological information under instructions from these very officers.