A Latvian national and an executive at a Kansas avionics parts company have been indicted on federal charges for allegedly smuggling advanced U.S. aircraft equipment and aerospace technology to Russia just before and during its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Oleg Chistyakov and Douglas Edward Robertson are accused of evading a U.S. ban on exports of certain avionics equipment to Russia, according to a grand jury indictment handed down on March 27. They allegedly worked with a third co-conspirator, Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, who pleaded guilty in December to charges of conspiracy and money laundering for his part in the scheme.
The restricted aviation parts are classified as parts “determined to make a significant contribution to the military potential of other nations or that could be detrimental to the foreign policy or national security of the United States,” the 47-page indictment states.
The men are accused of shipping hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of banned avionics exports to Russia by “repeatedly” concealing and misstating “the true end users, value, and end destinations of their exports,” via KanRus Trading Company Inc., based in Kansas.
According to federal court records, their customers were based in Moscow and included the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), Russia’s version of America’s CIA. It is the succeeding agency of the KGB, the former Soviet Union’s secret police and intelligence agency.
The men accused of smuggling military-style aircraft parts and technology to Russia allegedly did so by creating false invoices and submitting false information on export documents filed with the U.S. government. They are also accused of routing some of the parts to Russia via third-party countries such as Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, and Armenia.
Kansas-Based Operation
An unnamed Russian national in the indictment reportedly brokered orders between the Russian buyers, Mr. Chistyakov, and KanRus Trading Company, which is listed as “permanently closed” on the internet and has a disconnected phone number.“It doesn’t matter if you’re in Kansas or in Latvia—if you violate American law, you risk facing American justice,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement, in a March 28 statement. “We continue to work closely with law enforcement partners across the globe to pursue those who seek to send military-grade aerospace equipment to support the Russian military.”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement that the men will be held accountable for enabling “Russian aggression” and for being “involved in facilitation networks that fuel the Russian war effort.”
Evidence of their alleged smuggling operation cited in the indictments include an April 27, 2022, email from Mr. Robertson to Mr. Chistyakov indicating that “things are complicated in USA,” and that the invoice amount for the shipment needed to be less than $50,000 because, otherwise, there would be “more paperwork and visibility” and “This is NOT the right time for either.”
Several encrypted messages are also referenced in the federal indictment, including a June 2022 message the unnamed Russian national is alleged to have sent to Mr. Buyanovsky asking “whether providing a false end user located in Ukraine would work.”
According to the indictment, the same Russian national sent a message to Mr. Buyanovsky asking if the “Russian National Air Ambulance Service or Russian Emergency Situations Ministry would be an acceptable end user.”
The men are also accused of repairing computer components that make up what’s called a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and smuggling it back to Russia through a third party country.
The technology is typically used as part of a ground-based air traffic control system. The computer components are also on the United States’ restricted export list to Russia. The components were requested by a Russian buyer to fix a TCAS in South Sudan, the indictment says.
Mr. Buyanovsky, with the help of Mr. Chistyakov, allegedly arranged for the components to be routed through the United Arab Emirates.
This routing was necessary, according to Mr. Buyanovsky, due to U.S. embargo policies against the northeast African country.
One of the repaired parts was a computer processor called a TPU. According to the indictment, the acronym FSB, which stands for Russia’s Federal Security Service, was written on a sticker on the back of the TPU.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Mr. Buyanovsky, Mr. Robertson, or Mr. Chistyakov for comment.
