The U.S. Department of Justice today announced 16 indictments accusing five Russians, U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. permanent residents of smuggling export-controlled electronics and military ammunition out of the U.S. for the Russian government. published the letter.
Among the things smuggled out of America were semiconductors that could be used in nuclear and hypersonic weapons.Gasping!) quantum computers, says the DoJ.
Sniper rifle ammunition was also among the equipment allegedly smuggled.
Three of the seven defendants are in custody. Alexei Breiman, a legal permanent resident of the United States. and his Vadim Yermolenko, a US citizen, were both arrested in the US. Vadim Konošchenok, suspected of being his FSB colonel in Russia, was arrested in Estonia on Dec. 6 and is awaiting extradition to the United States.
If convicted, defendants face up to 30 years in prison.
Russian citizens Evgeny Grinin, Alexei Ippolitov, Boris Livshitz and Svetlana Skvortsova are on the run. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the arrest was enough to disrupt a procurement network built between Breiman, Ermolenko, and the pair’s Russian contacts.
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Prosecutors said the scheme involved two Moscow-based companies, Serbia Engineering and Sertal LLC, both of which the DoJ has accused of operating under the direction of Russian intelligence. there is
Sertal, among other things, was “licensed to conduct highly sensitive clandestine procurement activities” for Russian intelligence services, the indictment alleges.
According to the Justice Department, the two companies exist “to procure advanced electronics and sophisticated test equipment for Russia’s military-industrial complex and research and development sector.” That is, it is argued that the company will acquire American technology on orders from Moscow and pour its equipment into Russia.
These companies also allegedly operated a vast network of shell companies and bank accounts to conceal the Kremlin’s involvement in acquisitions.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “The industries these illegal money transfers can support — quantum computing, hypersonic weapons — pose great danger in the hands of our enemies.
According to the FBI, Ippolitov received a hardware request from Russia that was relayed to Sertal’s Grinin and Skvortsova. The Sertal pair secured funding and planned transportation routes, while Livshits was responsible for sourcing merchandise from US companies through a collection of paper companies registered in the New York City area.
Breiman and Yarmolenko allegedly worked a US-based scaffolding job of forging documents and invoices and packing and shipping goods to intermediate destinations, from where they were smuggled to Russia.
The alleged FSB colonel, Konošchenok, is based in Estonia and was stopped more than once at the Estonian-Russian border for smuggling goods into Russia. According to the DoJ, among the items Konoshchenok is known to have shipped included “35 types of semiconductors and other electronic components” matching Livsit’s orders.
“Our office is committed to vigorously pursuing those who have illegally acquired U.S. technology used to further Russia’s brutal war,” said Breon, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.・Peace said. ®