Montreal man sentenced in U.S. for exporting weapon components to Russia

By The Canadian Press on January 9, 2025.

A Montreal man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison by a U.S. federal court for running a scheme to illegally export millions of dollars' worth of electronic components to Russia for military use. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Washington. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mark Schiefelbein

MONTREAL – A Montreal man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison by a United States federal court for running a scheme to illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of electronic components to Russia for military use.

Nikolay Goltsev, 38, used two companies in Brooklyn, N.Y., to purchase electronics from U.S. manufacturers and send them to companies in Russia that are under sanction by the U.S. government.

Some of the equipment was later found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says in a statement that Goltsev profited from the sale of U.S. technology to “further Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine.”

The U.S. Department of Justice says one of the Brooklyn companies made hundreds of shipments valued at more than $7 million to Russia, and the government has seized approximately $1.68 million in connection with the scheme.

Goltsev’s wife, Russian-Canadian Kristina Puzyreva, was sentenced in July to 24 months in prison for conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the export scheme, and another co-defendant, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, is awaiting sentencing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2025.