A Russian citizen residing in Sarasota, Florida, was arrested on Monday on charges of smuggling, money laundering, and illegally exporting, conspiring to violate the Export Control Reform Act, to Russia technology that is considered to be useful in drone production, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed.
The arraignment alleges that following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Denis Postovoy, 44, acquired and unjustifiably exported to Russia microelectronic components with military applications that could be used in drones as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as per the verdict of the DOJ.
“According to the indictment, this litigant illegally exported dual-use technology to Russia that could boost its capabilities to the unprovoked war against Ukraine, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said in the statement.
The Russian embassy in the United States said on the Telegram messaging app that it was aware of Postovoy’s detention, but that it had not “received any official notification of the arrest from local law enforcement agencies.”
Postovoy purportedly operated through a network of companies in Russia and Hong Kong to purchase components from U.S. distributors and ship them to Russia using intercessor destinations to conceal the shipments’ final destination, without the required licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce, as per the verdict of the DOJ.
