NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Dec 26 (Interfax) - The Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court has sentenced Ukrainian citizen Ihor Kyyashko, who was charged with spying and attempting to smuggle military aircraft engine components, to eight years in a high-security penitentiary, Valery Lazarev of the press service for general jurisdiction courts in the Nizhny Novgorod region told Interfax on Wednesday.
Lazarev did not specify the counts on which Kyyashko was found guilty.
"The hearing took place behind closed doors due to classified information," he said.
A defense lawyer for Kyyashko had told Interfax in June that, according to the investigation, the Ukrainian had arrived in the Nizhny Novgorod region to purchase components for engines installed on MiG-29 military aircraft.
On April 10, Russian security officials detained Kyyashko at a hotel in Nizhny Novgorod after he had received the components and paid $46,200 for them with the intent to smuggle them to Ukraine. He was later indicted for "preparing to illegally move equipment that can be used to build other military hardware," the lawyer said.
The investigators also suspected Kyyashko of attempting to obtain copies of technical documents on a multifunctional radar station used in the S-400 air defense systems and charged him with spying, the lawyer said.