A former Russian aviation military engineer asked for political asylum United States At the end of December last year and in return offered some military secrets to the Pentagon. This was revealed by Yahoo News, which cites an unclassified report from the source as the source Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the USA as of January 11, 2023, obtained solely from the editorial board of the site.
As it turned out, the former Russian military engineer – now a civilian – drove aboard an SUV to the country’s southwestern border and asked border guards to be admitted inside the borders as a political refugee: the man in In fact, he would have explained, that he took an active part in the protests in Russia against the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, the main political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and for this he was persecuted in his homeland.
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In addition, in support of his asylum application, the former Russian army engineer claimed to CBP agents that he was in possession of various information requested by the Pentagon.
In particular, the asylum seeker is said to have revealed that he worked on the construction of the military aircraft from 2018 to 2021 Tupolev Tu-160Mnicknamed “White Swan”, at the Kazan Aviation plant.
As Aviation Report reports, the Tupolev Tu-160M - known in Western military circles by the NATO code “Blackjack” – is “a radically modernized strategic bomber with nuclear capabilities, the largest and most powerful supersonic variable-geometry wing aircraft in the history of military aviation.” “. The same aircraft would also be capable of speeds of up to 2,000 kilometers per hour.
According to CBP, the Tu-160M bombers would have been used in Russian military bombing operations in Ukraine, and in recent years Tupolev (the Russian aerospace company that makes fighter jets) would already have started an aircraft upgrade program.
CBP has reportedly withdrawn from answering questions from Yahoo News about information in the declassified report, in line with company policy requiring employees not to speak to the media about improperly declassified sensitive documents.
Yahoo News also said it had interviewed several government officials on the matter. Anyone would have been surprised that information about the possible secret whistleblower was compiled into a daily CBP report.
However, neither preferred to comment further, except that the man’s identity and history should have undergone a lengthy verification process by CBP and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before the results were forwarded to the FBI.
Yahoo News, on the other hand, preferred to avoid giving the asylum-seeker’s personal data – on the advice of the same sources consulted – in order not to expose him to possible retaliation by Russian intelligence agencies.
US military fears: Hypersonic missiles aboard Russian attack jets
It hasn’t been confirmed or denied by government officials, but Yahoo News was able to speak to a senior US military intelligence official who also remained anonymous about the story.
The spokesman is said to have stated that if the identity of the Russian asylum seeker mentioned in the CGP report is established, the information in his possession about the Tupolev Tu-160M variant would certainly be of interest to American intelligence.
The latter, in particular, would not mind finding out whether the Russians are trying to adapt the current models of Tu-160M to the launch of hypersonic missiles capable of moving at a speed five times the speed of sound (from 6000 km / h).
“It would be a really big problem if the White Swan was adapted for launching hypersonic missiles: they are fast devices and can be launched from long distances – the official explained – we have nothing that can protect us from hypersonic missiles: Patriot systems and all the rest that we deliver to Ukraine is useless in this sense».
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