The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday announced that five Russian nationals and two U.S. nationals have been charged with conspiring to obtain military-grade technology and ammunition from American companies for Russia's defense sector.
A 16-count indictment unsealed on Monday in Brooklyn revealed that the Russian nationals were charged with conspiracy and other charges related to what the DOJ called a "global procurement and money laundering network on behalf of the Russian government." The two American nationals were also charged as part of the scheme.
The DOJ said the defendants are accused of unlawfully purchasing and exporting "highly sensitive and heavily regulated electronic components." Some of the components can be used in the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons.
Three of the people who were charged, included both of the U.S. residents, have been arrested and are currently in custody.
The American nationals arrested were named as Alexey Brayman—a lawful permanent U.S. resident who lives in New Hampshire—and Vadim Yermolenko, a U.S. citizen living in New Jersey.
The third man arrested, Vadim Konoshchenok, was taken into custody in Estonia on December 6 after authorities found approximately 375 pounds worth of U.S.-origin ammunition in a warehouse.
The DOJ said Konoshchenok is a suspected officer with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor agency to the KGB. He will be extradited to the U.S.
The other four defendants—Yevgeniy Grinin, Aleksey Ippolitov, Boris Livshits and Svetlana Skvortsova—are still at large.
In the announcement of the charges, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the three arrests already made have successfully disrupted a "procurement network allegedly used by the defendants and Russian intelligence services to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition and sensitive electronic components into Russia."
The DOJ said the defendants were affiliated with Serniya Engineering and Sertal LLC, two Moscow-based companies that "operate under the direction of Russian intelligence services to procure advanced electronics and sophisticated testing equipment for Russia's military industrial complex and research and development sector."
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) levied sanctions against Serniya, Sertal, Yevgeniy Grinin and several companies used in the scheme.
In a March announcement, the Treasury Department referred to those who were sanctioned as being "instrumental to the Russian Federation's war machine."
In Tuesday's statement, Garland praised the DOJ in disrupting the smuggling scheme.
"The Department of Justice and our international partners will not tolerate criminal schemes to bolster the Russian military's war efforts," Garland said.
"The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our economic sanctions and export controls against those who enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war in Ukraine," he added.
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ for further comment.
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About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
