Supply to Army
German-Russians may have smuggled American technology to Russia
09/01/2023, 3:50 PM
Conspiracy, kidnapping and money laundering: The 33-year-old German-Russian man’s list of crimes is long, according to US authorities. The man allegedly supplied US microelectronics to the Russian military. He allegedly used a company in Cyprus to avoid sanctions.
US authorities accuse a German-Russian national of exporting US-made military technology to Russia. The US Justice Department said on Thursday (local time) that the 33-year-old breached export restrictions by selling US microelectronics to a Russian company that supplies “critical electronic components” to the Russian military. The man was arrested in Cyprus a few days ago at the request of the United States.
According to US authorities, the 33-year-old used a company in Cyprus to hide the real buyer of the products and told distributors that the parts were used in fire protection systems in the EU state and other approved countries. However, the real buyer is the St. Petersburg-based company Electrocom VPK, which supplies electronic components for weapons production.
The US Department of Justice has charged the 33-year-old with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to violate export laws, smuggling, cyber fraud and money laundering. Many charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison. It was initially unclear whether a formal extradition request would be made after the arrest in Cyprus.
U.S. Undersecretary for Commerce Matthew Axelrod said anyone who violated export restrictions “to aid Putin’s brutal war machine” would be held accountable. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States imposed unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia.
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