The U.S. Department of Justice reports that a U.S. citizen pleaded guilty last week to smuggling sophisticated U.S. avionics equipment to Russia via Armenia and several other third countries.

Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, the owner and president of KanRus Trading Company, pleaded guilty on December 19 for his role in a years-long conspiracy to dodge U.S. export laws by filing false export forms with the U.S. government and, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, continuing to sell and export sophisticated and controlled avionics equipment to customers in Russia without the required U.S. Department of Commerce licenses. 

Buyanovsky, who faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, used foreign bank accounts in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates, to funnel money from Russian customers to KanRus.