Moscow denies links to US blacklisted firms

On suspicion of illegally passing information to a foreign state did not give anything to Russia's defense industry, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. United States Commerce Department on Thursday blacklisted 165 foreign companies and individuals in connection with the activities of several people from the former republics of the USSR suspected of illicit export activity involving a variety of high-tech items. "None of them supplied anything to us," Rogozin told reporters. "This latest row - thank the Americans - is a slap in the face for those in Russia who think that foreigners will help us," he said and noted that Russia is committed to creating "its own microelectronics base." "All the necessary decisions have been made. We are currently consolidating assets to build our own electronic components base," he said adding ,"We are identifying bottlenecks related to Roscosmos [Federal Space Agency] and aviation." US authorities have alleged that the defendants obtained secret information for the Russian warplane maker MiG. However, a MiG spokesman told RIA Novosti on Thursday that his company never uses anybody else’s technology. "We definitely don’t steal anything; there are no stolen products or technologies on MiG aircraft," he said. The companies and individuals on the "list of organizations" face special restrictions in getting a license for the export of designated items from the US. The Congress Department says these individuals and companies are unlikely to ever get these licenses in future. The FBI in New York said on Wednesday that Brooklyn US Attorney Loretta E. Lynch had charged 11 suspects with illegally exporting military technology to Russia, namely microelectronic components destined for Russia's intelligence and military agencies. The main suspect, described as an "agent of the Russian government," was named as 46 year-old Alexander Fishenko, who heads an American company called Arc Electronics, and a Moscow-registered company called Apex System. Fishenko, who holds Russian and US passports, faces a maximum sentence of 55 years if found guilty. The US authorities have also named Alexander Posobilov and Viktoria Klebanova as the other main suspects holding key positions in the company. Another three suspects remain at liberty, the FBI says, US media reported.