MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – The Kirovsky District Court of St. Petersburg has sentenced businessmen Konstantin Kondratenko and Yevgeny Tkachenko to 3 years in prison for smuggling military equipment into Vietnam, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts has told RAPSI.

The court found the defendants guilty of smuggling military equipment by a group of people on preliminary conspiracy.

According to the case documents, Tkachenko, experienced with repairs of naval equipment, decided to sell maritime diesel engine officially classified as military-grade and transfer it from Russia to Vietnam.

Investigators noted that Tkachenko got help from head manager of St. Petersburg Logistics company Kondratenko, who had experience with customs workings. Together the defendants, acting on behalf of a science firm, forged documents stating that the engine is civilian-grade and received a permission to transfer it.

In June 2017, a cargo with the military equipment was found during police operation in a shipping port.