The US Department of Justice has accused an American firm and two of its executives of illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of technology to the Russian Federation.
Points of attention
- The US Department of Justice accuses an American firm and its executives of illegally exporting millions worth of technology to Russia under the "Finnish scheme".
- The defendants used a pseudo-end user in Finland to circumvent export restrictions and send goods to Russia, including high-priority items vital for Russian weapons.
- The company Eleview International and its managers are ensnared in the case, facing allegations of tax evasion schemes employed to bypass export restrictions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- The accused individuals could face up to 20 years in prison for their involvement in the illegal export of military technology to Russia through the "Finnish scheme".
A company from the USA implemented the "Finnish scheme" of supplying military technology to the Russia
The company Eleview International, based in the American state of Virginia, became a participant in this case together with its managers Oleg Nayandin and Vitaly Borysenko.
The defendants, a Virginia company and two of its top executives, are alleged to have conspired through three tax evasion schemes to circumvent export restrictions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the National Security Division. US Department of Justice.
According to the US Department of Justice, the defendants began shipping the goods to "alleged end users" in Turkey, Finland and Kazakhstan, "knowing that the goods were ultimately destined for end users in Russia."
Specifically, in the Finnish scheme, the defendants exported about $3.45 million worth of goods purchased in Russia through the Eleview e-commerce website to a fake end-user in Finland who did not buy or sell the goods, the US Department of Justice said in a press release.
Before combining the parcels into larger pallets for shipment to Finland, the defendants affixed a label with the track number of the Russian postal service to each, so that it could easily send the parcel to the customer in Russia
It said the goods the defendants illegally exported as part of the Finnish scheme included "high-priority" goods identified by the US Commerce Department as particularly important to Russian weapons, including the same type of electronic components found on Russian drones used to destroy Ukrainian tanks and aircraft.
The accused face up to 20 years in prison.
New US sanctions against Russia
The USA introduced new sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, this time they affected the IT sphere. Some companies have withdrawn from the Russian market, while others have introduced significant restrictions.
The American restrictions entered into force on September 12, 2024. According to the new anti-Russian sanctions, the following services will completely stop working in the Russian Federation:
Atlassian;
Notion;
Jira;
SAP;
Autodesk;
Oracle;
Trello;
Miro (restrictions apply to accounts from the Russian Federation and Belarus);
Slack;
CAD.
The new sanctions will also prohibit American companies from providing IT consulting, design, support, and cloud services to any legal entities in the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Google no longer allows registering new accounts from Russian numbers. Also, bloggers from the Russian Federation will not be able to receive income through AdSense.
