By FATIMA HUSSEIN
March 4, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday
arrested two Kansas men on allegations that the pair illegally exported
aviation-related technology to Russia and provided repair services for the
equipment.
Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson are charged
with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and
failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods in violation
of U.S. law.
The charges come as the U.S. has drastically ramped up sanctions
and financial penalties on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began
on Feb. 24, 2022. Along with thousands of sanctions on people and firms, export
controls on the Kremlin are meant to limit access to computer chips and other
products needed to equip a modern military.
The Justice Department says Buyanovsky and Robertson owned
and operated KanRus Trading Co., which allegedly supplied aircraft electronics
to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in
Russian-manufactured aircraft.
The indictment says that since 2020, they conspired to evade
U.S. export laws by concealing and misstating the true end users and
destinations of their exports and by shipping equipment through third-party
countries.
They face up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Lawyers for
Buyanovsky and Robertson couldn’t be identified from the provided documents,
and the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for their
information.
The FBI and the Commerce Department’s Office of Export
Enforcement are investigating the case.
Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export
enforcement at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, said
at an American Bar Association event in Miami Thursday that state actors like
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are trying to “take advantage of rapid
advances in technology,” adding that sensitive technologies being sent to these
countries are “top of our list from an enforcement perspective.”
Since the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
U.S. officials have said they would increase enforcement and sanctions on
people and entities that assist Russia in the procurement of weaponry and
technology that would bolster its military.
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