MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Federal Security Service said Thursday it had evidence that a top Russian rocket expert had illegally passed on to China know-how that could be used to design nuclear missiles.
The FSB said "an organized group" headed by Igor Reshetin, the chief executive of Tsniimash-Export, a producer of rockets and missiles working closely with the Russian Space Agency, had transferred "know-how subject to export control" to China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC).
Reshetin, who was accused of illegal export of technologies on October 25, 2006, is now accused of smuggling intellectual property worth some 60 million rubles ($2.3 million), embezzling 50 million rubles ($1.9 million), and money laundering. Three of his former employees also face criminal charges.
Tsniimash, which was licensed by the Russian Federal Aerospace Agency in 1996, faced similar allegations in 2005, and CPMIEC has been under U.S. sanctions under the Iran Non-Proliferation Act since mid-2003.
Founded in 1991, Tsniimash-Export has fulfilled more than 120 contracts for aerospace companies and firms in the U.S., China, and several other countries.
Analysts said Russian technology might have formed the basis of China's manned space program, which has carried out two successful orbital missions to date.
