A citizen who illegally purchased microelectronics for the Russian army from the United States was arrested in Cyprus

On 26 August, a criminal with German-Russian citizenship was arrested in Cyprus on charges of export control violations, smuggling, fraud, money laundering and subsequent transfer to the Russian military.

Artur Petrov, a 33-year-old resident of Russia and Cyprus, attempted to circumvent US export controls when purchasing US microelectronics. He had long been involved in an international procurement network based in Russia, using front companies to smuggle shipments from US distributors of military-grade microelectronics through intermediary countries to avoid identifying the final recipient, Russia. The purchases were made through his company Astrafteros Technokosmos LTD in Cyprus for the manufacture of fire response systems. 

Petrov, along with two other criminals, work for Elektrokom VPK LLC (Elektrokom), a Russian supplier of critical electronic components for manufacturers of weapons and other equipment for the Russian army. It is known that they purchased more than $225,000 worth of military electronic components from US distributors and shipped them to Russia.

Due to the situation, access to the US microelectronics procurement network has been temporarily suspended. The offender faces up to 20 years in prison.

Source: US Department of Justice