US authorities on Wednesday indicted five Russians who allegedly supplied American electronic components to Russian arms manufacturers, some of which were found on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Separately, three Latvians and a Ukrainian have been charged with trying to ship a US-made high-precision industrial grinder to Russia that the Justice Department said could be used by arms manufacturers or in a nuclear weapons program.
The Justice Department said the two plans involved front companies in several countries, including Dubai and Germany, and were designed to circumvent US and global sanctions against Russia.
The first scheme involved buying sensitive technology from US manufacturers, such as advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter jets, missile systems, smart munitions, radar and satellites.
The Justice Ministry said Dubai-based Russian Yury Orekhov, Artem Uss, the son of a Russian regional governor, and the three others used a Hamburg, Germany-based firm for the operation and supplied some of the technology to Russian defense contractors operating under it suffer US sanctions.
It said, for example, that Orekhov traveled to the United States in 2019 to source parts used in the Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet.
“Some of the types of electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme were found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine,” the Justice Ministry said.
At the same time, it was said, Orekhov, his Russian partners and two other accused Venezuelan oil brokers used the German company as a cover to ship “hundreds of millions of barrels of oil” from Venezuela to Russia and China, violating sanctions worldwide.
Payments, meanwhile, have been routed through shell companies, a bank in the United Arab Emirates and through cash drops and cryptocurrency deals, the department said.
The five Russians and two traffickers are accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States, sanctions violations, fraud and money laundering.
Orekhov and Uss were arrested in Germany and Italy respectively on Monday and the United States will seek their extradition, the ministry said.
In the second scheme, the four arranged to purchase a Connecticut-made jig grinder, ostensibly for the European market, but attempted to ship it to Russia. The mill was intercepted by Latvian authorities.
“These defendants attempted to smuggle a high-precision, export-controlled item into Russia where it could have been used for nuclear proliferation and Russian defense programs,” US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said.
The three Latvians were arrested on Tuesday, while the Ukrainian national was arrested in Estonia in June.
They are all charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling and money laundering. The Ministry of Justice is also demanding their extradition.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Orekhov, the German company and a company he controls in Dubai.
“Russia is increasingly struggling to secure critical inputs and technologies needed for its brutal war against Ukraine,” Wally Adeyemo’s deputy finance minister said in a statement.
“We know these efforts have a direct impact on the battlefield, as Russia’s desperation has led it to turn to substandard suppliers and obsolete equipment,” Adeyemo said.
