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The US Department of Justice today announced a 16-count indictment charging five Russians, an American citizen and a legal permanent US resident with smuggling electronic exports and military munitions from the United States to the Russian government.
Among the things smuggled out of the US were semiconductors that could be used in nuclear and hypersonic weapons, and (Breathe!) quantum computers, according to the DOJ.
Sniper rifle ammunition was among the gear they allegedly took illegally.
Three of the seven accused are in jail. Alexei Breman, a legal permanent resident of the United States, and Vadim Yermolenko, an American citizen, were both arrested in the United States. Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected colonel in Russia’s FSB, was arrested in Estonia on December 6 and is awaiting extradition to the United States.
The defendants face a maximum of 30 years in prison if convicted.
Russian nationals Yevgeniy Grinin, Aleksey Ippolitov, Boris Livshits, and Svetlana Skvortsova remain at large. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the arrest was enough to disrupt the procurement network built between Breman, Yermolenko and the pair’s Russian connections.
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The scheme, according to prosecutors, involved two Moscow-based companies, Serbia Engineering and Sertal LLC, both of which the DOJ accuses of working under the direction of Russian intelligence services.
Sertal was specifically “authorized to conduct highly sensitive and classified procurement operations” for Russian intelligence forces, the indictment alleges.
According to the DOJ, both organizations exist to “procure advanced electronics and sophisticated test equipment for Russia’s military industrial complex and research and development sector.” That said, the businesses would receive orders for American technology from Moscow and deliver that equipment to Russia.
The companies allegedly ran extensive shell companies and bank accounts, of which Bryman and Yermolenko were part, to hide Kremlin purchases.
“The industries that these illicit transfers can support — quantum computing, hypersonic weapons — pose a significant threat to our adversaries,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
According to the FBI, Ipolitov received requests for hardware from Russia, which were forwarded by Sertal to Grinin and Skvorsova. The pair in Sertal planned financing and shipping routes, while the Livshits are accused of buying goods from US companies through a collection of shell companies registered in the New York City area.
Bryman and Yermolenko allegedly did the legwork by preparing, packaging and transporting the US-based documents and invoices to intermediate destinations, where they were then smuggled into Russia.
Konoshchenok, an FSB colonel, is accused in Estonia and has been stopped more than once at the Estonian-Russian border for smuggling goods into Russia. Among the items Konoshchenok is known to have transported were “35 different types of semiconductors and other electronic components” that matched orders placed by Livshitz, the DOJ said.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brian Peace, said: “Our office will not rest in its pursuit of those who illegally purchase U.S. technology for Russia’s worst military expansion.” ®
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