Alexey Brayman, a Russian who lives in New Hampshire, is one of the seven men charged. Federal prosecutors said on December 13 that Brayman used his Merrimack home as a “transshipment point” to sneak US-made military equipment into Russia as part of a coordinated plan to break US export laws.
WBZ, a CBS station in Boston, said that Brayman is accused of being part of a plan to ship US-made goods to Russia via Estonia, Finland, Germany, and Hong Kong. The goods would go through Estonia, Finland, Germany, and Hong Kong.
According to the indictment, which was released in the Eastern District of New York, Yevgeniy Grinin, Aleksey Ippolitov, Boris Livshits, Svetlana Skvortsova, Vadim Konoshchenok, Vadim Yermolenko, and Brayman used shell companies, fake addresses, and fake shipping labels to send the equipment to Russia from 2017 until at least the spring of 2022.
A person who might be a Russian spy
Some of the goods that are thought to have been smuggled are “advanced electronics and sophisticated testing equipment” that could be used to make nuclear weapons and for other military and space-based military uses. Investigators say that once the items got to Europe and Asia, they were repacked and sent from several “intermediate locations” before they were finally sent to Russia.
WBZ says that on October 22, police stopped Konoshchenok, a Russian citizen who lives in Estonia, at the Estonian-Russian border. There, they found 35 types of semiconductors, thousands of 6.5-millimeter bullets made in Nebraska, and ammunition for sniper rifles.
The US Justice Department told WBZ that Konoshchenok, who is thought to be a Russian intelligence officer, smuggled a lot of US-made goods into Russia from Estonia, including dual-use electronics, military-grade tactical ammunition, and other export-controlled items.
Konoshchenok was taken into custody on December 6 at the request of the US, and he is now waiting to be sent to the US. The other suspects are still out there.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the US has stopped sending any kind of military goods to Russia.
Info source – Estonian World