The Justice Department announced on July 9 that a New York man and a Canadian national have pleaded guilty to unlawfully exporting millions of dollars worth of U.S. electronics that ended up in Russian weapons, including missiles and drones used to attack Ukraine.
Brooklyn resident Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, 53, and Canadian national Nikolay Goltsev, 38, both pleaded guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit export control violations for their roles in a global procurement scheme on behalf of sanctioned Russian companies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“The defendants flouted U.S. law to help Russia in its war against Ukraine, but they were stopped in their tracks and swiftly brought to justice,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Among the sanctioned companies that received some of the 300 shipments of restricted electronics—worth over $7 million—were companies with Russian military contracts. Some of the electronic components shipped by the defendants were found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine, per the Justice Department.
The defendants each face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum supervised release term of 3 years, and a forfeiture money judgment of $4 million, per the plea agreement for Mr. Nasriddinov, which was identical to the one for Mr. Goltsev.
“The defendants shipped millions of dollars’ worth of electronic components to Russia, including the exact type of parts found in Russian weapons and drones used to attack Ukraine,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a statement. “We know the devastation and destruction that these weapons cause and the Justice Department is committed to holding accountable those who violate U.S. laws to supply the Russian war machine.”
In February 2024, a third co-defendant, Kristina Puzyreva, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the export scheme. She is currently awaiting sentencing.
The Justice Department said that the defendants used two Brooklyn companies, SH Brothers Inc. and SN Electronics Inc., to illegally procure and ship millions of dollars worth of dual-use electronics from U.S. manufacturers, which were critical to Russia’s precision-guided weapons systems, including ones used to attack Ukraine.
The defendants rerouted the components through intermediary companies in countries like Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China, and the UAE, before the parts reached Russia.
The Justice Department said the defendants knew the military applications of these electronics. For instance, in November 2022, they discussed a detained shipment at JFK Airport, highlighting the scrutiny due to Ukraine’s allegations of being bombed with U.S.-sourced parts. Accordingly, they planned to diversify their shipping methods to avoid detection, per the Justice Department, which cited messages exchanged between the two defendants that were obtained by investigators.
The actions that led to the defendants’ arrest were coordinated by the Justice and Commerce Departments’ Disruptive Technology Strike Force and the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, which target illicit actors and seek to prevent critical technology acquisition by hostile states.
