Russia's Ex-Military Bomber Engineer Turned up at U.S.-Mexico Border to Seek Asylum, Offer Military Secrets

A former military bomber engineer from Russia turned up at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum and offering to reveal Russia's top military secrets, according to a CBP report.

The unclassified Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report obtained by Yahoo News further noted that the Russian man and his family arrived in an armored SUV in late December and asked to allow them to enter the U.S. as he was afraid of prosecution for joining anti-Putin protests in support of imprisoned Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny.

Navalny has long been the most prominent face of opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been in jail since he returned to Russia in 2021 after an assassination attempt in Germany that the Kremlin allegedly carried out.

The former military bomber engineer from Russia told CBP officials that he had information wanted by the U.S. government. According to the January 11 CBP report, the Russian was a civil engineer.

His previous employment included working from 2018 to 2021, making a specific type of military airplane at the Tupolev aircraft production facility in Kazan city, Russia. The Russian engineer described the aircraft as an "attack jet" and called it "White Swan-TU160, the largest military aircraft."

Military Bomber Engineer From Russia Seeks Asylum

CBP officials reportedly worked to verify the Russian engineer's story. Two government officials told Yahoo News that the man's story was deemed credible and significant enough to be passed on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in January.

The outlet reported that the former Russian military bomber engineer is still believed to be in the U.S. and being questioned. Business Insider reported that a senior U.S. military intelligence official told Yahoo News that the government would be interested in changes Russia was making on the advanced military jets.

U.S. officials also wanted to know whether the aircraft, which can be fitted with missiles and nuclear weapons, could also be equipped with hypersonic missiles. The official noted that the U.S. government currently does not have anything that can defend against hypersonic missiles.

In the report, CBP officials wrote that open-source reporting indicated an increased production of the aircraft in recent years at the facility where the Russian engineer claimed to have worked.

Around 300,000 Russians had already left Russia before late September last year, with that number nearing 400,000 by early October of the same year. Some are reportedly seeking asylum in Western countries and offering Russian secrets in exchange.

Russians at U.S.-Mexico Border

Data published by the San Diego Rapid Response Network noted that Russians have consistently been among the top three nationalities arriving at a San Diego shelter since June 2021, Reuters reported.

Millions of refugees have reportedly fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, which Moscow calls a "special operation. Most have fled to neighboring European countries. Vladimir Putin has cracked down on dissent in Russia by jailing anti-war protesters and closing independent news outlets.

The Russian Embassy previously said it was "very concerned" about what it called the "detention" of alleged Russian citizens at the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. The embassy added that it had contacted the U.S. State Department to verify their identities.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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