Three Russians were arrested Tuesday in New York for evading US sanctions to ship electronic components for weapons used by Moscow in its war in Ukraine, authorities said.
Nikolay Golstev, 37, and his wife, Kristina Puzyreva, 32 -- both Russian-Canadian -- were arrested along with their alleged partner Salimdzhon Nariddinov, 52, who has Russian-Tajik citizenship.
The trio are accused of evading sanctions to dispatch, over the course of a year, "over 300 shipments of restricted items, valued at approximately $10 million, to the Russian battlefield," Ivan Arvelo, special agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
The federal prosecutor's office for the Eastern District of New York said that "more than $1.1 million in proceeds" had also been seized Tuesday from domestic bank accounts.
Components linked to the group's two Brooklyn-based companies "have been found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine," including guided missile systems, drones, tanks and helicopters, the Department of Justice said in a statement announcing the charges.
"These entities unlawfully sourced, purchased and shipped millions of dollars in dual-use electronics from US manufacturers to sanctioned end users in Russia," the statement said.
"The defendants were aware that the electronics being exported had potential military applications," the statement added, describing the alleged plot as "a global procurement scheme on behalf of sanctioned Russian entities, including companies affiliated with the Russian military."
The three defendants were taken into custody at the end of their arraignment, at the request of federal prosecutors, without yet entering a plea.
