02 March 2023 , 22:54
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Two men from Kansas have been arrested on charges related to a years-long scheme to illegally export aviation technology to Russia.
The suspects, identified as Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson, were arrested on Monday after being accused of circumventing US export laws to sell sophisticated avionics equipment to Russian companies that service Russian-built aircraft.
According to an indictment, the defendants owned and operated KanRus Trading Company, which supplied Western avionics equipment to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in Russian-manufactured aircraft.
The two men allegedly conspired to evade US export laws by concealing and misstating the true end users, value and end destinations of their exports, and by transshipping items through third-party countries.
They allegedly conspired to sell avionics equipment to Russian companies servicing Russian-built aircraft (Getty Images/Westend61)The US Department of Justice announced that the suspects received avionics equipment, including a computer processor bearing a sticker identifying Russia’s Federal Security Services (FSB), from a Russian company for repair in the United States between November 2020 and February 2021.
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They allegedly concealed the true end user and end destination by providing a fraudulent invoice to the shipment company identifying the end destination as Germany.
Further allegations suggest that in February 2022, the defendants attempted to export avionics to Russia, but US authorities detained the shipment, and the US Department of Commerce informed the suspects that a license was required to export the equipment to Russia.
Despite this, the defendants illegally transshipped avionics through Armenia and Cyprus to Russia without obtaining the required licenses in May, June, and July 2022.
If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison for exporting controlled goods without a license (Getty Images)The two men have been charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to US law.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of exporting controlled goods without a license; up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling; and up to five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and falsifying export information.
The FBI and the US Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case, while Assistant US Attorneys Scott Rask and Ryan Huschka for the District of Kansas and Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
This investigation was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.