A photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on January 17, 2023, showing a TU-160 strategic bomber.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP
A Russian claiming to have information on advanced jets sought asylum in the US late last year.
He arrived at the southern border in December, with US officials treating his story as credible.
The man said he worked on a jet that officials believe is Russia’s most advanced strategic bomber.
In late December, a man claiming to be a former Russian jet engineer arrived at the US southern border seeking asylum, and offering secrets about Russia’s most advanced bomber in return.
The man told US border officials that he had information that their government would want, as he previously worked on advanced military aircrafts in Russia, according to a Customs and Border Protection report obtained by Yahoo News.
This included the White Swan-TU160, the largest military aircraft in Russia’s arsenal.
CBP officials wrote in their report that information on that jet could be of use to the US, and that the jet is “reportedly the most advanced strategic bomber in the Russian inventory and has been also used in a tactical airstrike role in the Ukraine war.”
Officials worked to verify his story, and two government officials told Yahoo News that the man’s story was deemed credible and significant enough for him to be passed on to the FBI in January.
The man is currently still believed to be in the US and being questioned, Yahoo News reported in an exclusive.
The man, who arrived at the border in an SUV with his family, said he was afraid he would be punished for taking part in protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in support of Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader and Kremlin critic, per Yahoo News.
A senior US military intelligence official told the outlet that the US would be particularly interested in changes Russia was making to the jets, which can be fitted with missiles and nuclear weapons, including whether they were fitted with hypersonic missiles.
“We don’t have anything that can defend against hypersonic missiles — meaning, Patriot systems and all the rest of what we are supplying Ukraine, it’s useless,” the official said.
CBP officials wrote in their report that open source reporting suggested a ramping up of production of the aircraft in recent years at the facility where the man claimed to have worked.
The unnamed man could also be part of a growing trend.
Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Russians have left the country since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Some are now seeking asylum in Western counties, and are offering Russian secrets in exchange.
This includes a former doctor with Russia’s intelligence agency, who told CNN in January that she spent time collecting secrets before she defected and sought asylum in France.