Authorities on Friday (March 3) arrested two Kansas men for illegally exporting technology to Russia. According to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice, the men were arrested on charges related to a years-long scheme to circumvent American export laws that included the illegal export of aviation-related technology to Russia after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the imposition of stricter restrictions on exports to Russia.
The men have been identified as Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 59, of Lawrence, and Douglas Robertson, 55, of Olathe. The Department of Justice said that the two men operated the KanRus Trading Company, which supplied Western avionics equipment to Russian companies and provided repair services for equipment used in Russian-manufactured aircraft.
“Since 2020, the defendants conspired to evade US export laws by concealing and misstating the true end users, value and end destinations of their exports and by transshipping items through third-party countries,” the statement said.
It added that on February 28 last year (four days after the Ukraine war), “the defendants attempted to export avionics to Russia. US authorities detained the shipment, and the US Department of Commerce informed the defendants that a license was required to export the equipment to Russia.”
The Justice Department also said that in April 2022, Douglas Robertson expressed to a Russia-based customer that things were complicated in the US and this was not the right time for more paperwork. From May-July, Robertson and Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky illegally transshipped avionics through Armenia and Cyprus to Russia without obtaining the required licenses.
The Kansas men have been charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to American law.
If convicted, they would be “20 years in prison for each count of exporting controlled goods without a license; up to 10 years in prison for each count of smuggling; and up to five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and falsifying export information,” Friday’s statement added.
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