Prominent American attorney Alexey Tarasov is set to defend Russian nationals accused of acting as Russian agents in a U.S. court. During the initial hearing at a Houston court involving individuals from the former Soviet Union arrested in the U.S. on charges of illegal exportation of dual-use microelectronics, four of the eight detainees – Alexander Fishchenko, Alexander Posobilov, Victoria Klebanova, and Anastasia Diatlova – who hold Russian citizenship, pleaded not guilty.
Diatlova is represented by attorney Tarasov, known for his previous legal representation of pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko. A subsequent court hearing is scheduled for today around 7 pm Moscow time, to discuss the possibility of bail and transferring the case to a New York court. The New York prosecutor’s office prepared the indictment against Fishchenko’s company for having shipped cargo to Russia via Kennedy International Airport.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated today that none of the companies embargoed by the United States for exporting certain goods in relation to this scandal had ever supplied any products to the Russian military-industrial complex.
Source: NTV, October 5, 2012
