MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - Two Russian citizens have pleaded guilty to smuggling sensitive aircraft parts from the United States to Russian companies.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that according to court documents, Oleg Sergeyevhich Patsulya and Vasilii Sergeyevich Besedinx, both of whom reside in Miami-Dade County, Florida, conspired with each other and several others to evade U.S. export laws and regulations to send aircraft technology from the United States to Russia.
The scheme began in or about May 2022, a few months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and enhanced U.S. sanctions on Russia.
For one year since then, the Russian smugglers obtained orders for various aircraft parts and components from Russian commercial airline companies, and acquired them from U.S. suppliers, including a supplier based in Arizona, and exported them to Russia. The defendants admitted to knowing the items were controlled and required a license from the Department of Commerce to export, according to the Department of Justice.
The U.S. authorities foiled attempts to export multiple shipments of a carbon disc brake system used on Boeing 737 aircraft, it says.
In total, throughout the conspiracy, American bank accounts associated with MIC P&I LLC, a company controlled by Patsulya, received at least $4,582,288 from Russian airline companies through Turkish bank accounts to purchase aircraft parts and components.
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