At the end of December last year, a Russian engineer with a family drove in the United States from Mexico on an armored jeep. The man said that he worked at the factory, which produces Russian strategic Tu-160 bombers, told the border guards that he has information that is of interest to the American government, and asked for asylum.
The man initially said that he was afraid of persecution for participating in protests in support of Alexei Navalny. He later stated that he has information interesting to the US government. The man said that in Russia he was an engineer, from 2018 to 2021 he worked at the Tupolev aircraft factory in Kazan, where he was engaged in the construction of the Tu-160.
For about a half weeks, the Ministry of Internal Security and the border control service checked the identity of the man and his former place of work. By January 11, he was recognized as deserving and representing potential interest to the United States, after which he was interrogated in the FBI.
The engineer remains in the United States and is still interrogated by American officials. It is probably that he is interrogated about the resumption of Tu-160 production and the bomber updates, as well as about issues that are not related to the aircraft, including the email system, software, personnel and equipment used by aircraft factory.