Details of the criminal case have become known, in which US citizen Peter Stern, who has been put on the international wanted list by Russia, is a defendant. The businessman, who heads the freight forwarding and customs brokerage company Express Service Forwarding Inc., is accused by the Investigative Committee of theft of 230 million rubles. when implementing a contract with the State Space Research and Production Center (GKNPTs) named after Khrunichev. For more than fifteen years, Mr. Stern’s company supplied the leading domestic manufacturer of rocket and space technology with rocket fuel, satellites and equipment for commercial launches from Baikonur of devices belonging to the American companies Motorola, Space System Loral and Olin Corporation, providing satellite communications for the Iridium program and others.
The basis for the initiation of a criminal case by the State Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee in September 2016 for the misappropriation of funds on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was a report “on the discovery of signs of a crime and a statement from the head of the control and audit department of the State Research and Production Space Center, received from the FSB SEB and the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs.” They talked about unidentified persons committing theft on an especially large scale during deliveries by the American company Express Service Forwarding Inc. Khrunichev rocket fuel center for commercial launches from Baikonur of specialized American communications satellites from Motorola and Space System Loral.
Let us note that before this, from February to August 2016, the Investigative Committee refused to initiate this criminal case six times, without finding corpus delicti.

According to Kommersant, the contract is between Peter Stern’s company and the counterparty represented by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise GKNPTs im. M.V. Khrunichev” for the delivery of rocket fuel for the launch of American communications satellites using Russian Proton launch vehicles was concluded in 2005.
Express Service Forwarding Inc. Khrunichev’s center was recommended by their long-time business partner, Motorola. The company has been interacting with the State Research and Production Space Center since 1997, using the Russian