How an FBI sting stopped a Russian smuggler but not his Hong Kong supply route
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. HONG KONG—It took the promise of access to contraband, an FBI front company and help from Fiji, but they got their man: U.S. investigators, in a tricky sting operation, picked off a supplier of parts Moscow needs for its war in Ukraine.
The smuggler, Maxim Marchenko, was sentenced in July by a New York court to three years in prison for his role in procuring military-grade electronics for Russia. The Americans missed their ultimate goal, however: More than seven months after Marchenko’s arrest, his network was still in business, continuing to feed Russian companies with ties to its military, according to research and a review of trade and procurement data by C4ADS, a Washington-based global security nonprofit. The prosecution of Marchenko cast light on the extent of U.S.
efforts to enforce sanctions that were imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago. It also showed how difficult it is to stanch the flow of equipment to Russia through China, which the U.S. accuses of helping Moscow sustain the military production it needs to continue the war.
The Biden administration has imposed Russia-related sanctions on more than 300 people and entities in China, including at least 75 in Hong Kong, freezing assets and restricting their ability to do business. But the trade continues to flow, aided by entities such as Marchenko’s companies in Hong Kong, a shipping hub where the leadership readily denounces Western sanctions. Between August 2023 and December 2023, Hong Kong companies shipped to Russia more than $750 million worth of microchips and other goods that Moscow needs in its military campaign, according to a July report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a
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