Two Montrealers busted in New York for allegedly helping Russia’s Ukraine attacks
globalnews.caMontreal were arrested in New York City Monday for allegedly conspiring to illegally ship $13.9 million worth of restricted technology to the Russian military.Some of the components that the Montrealers obtained through front companies later ended up in advanced Russian weapons systems and spying equipment found on battlefields in Ukraine, according to Breon Peace, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.Peace unsealed a criminal complaint that identified the two Montrealers who were charged in the case as Nikolay Goltsev, 37, and Kristina Puzyreva, 32.A third Russian man, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov from New York, was also charged.“These defendants are alleged to have illegally exported millions of dollars in electronics to support the Kremlin in its ongoing attacks of Ukraine,” said Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York.The charges follow a major probe by the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Commerce departments.Goltsev and Puzyreva were arrested at an unidentified Manhattan hotel during a trip to New York to visit Nasriddinov, prosecutors said.The suspects face conspiracy, wire fraud and other export control charges.
Prosecutors alleged the trio quarterbacked an elaborate global procurement scheme and fraud designed to defeat export controls on the technology and sanctions that the U.S. and Canada and other nations slapped on Russia and its military after its illegal Ukraine invasion.Prosecutors allege Goltsev, Puzyrev and Nasriddinov used two front companies registered in Brooklyn, called SH Brothers Inc.
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