A Montreal man has been sentenced to 40 months in a United States federal prison for his role in a scheme to smuggle electronic components to Russia for use in weapons systems.
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Nikolay Goltsev, 38, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit export control violations, admitting that he used front companies to purchase electronic components with both civilian and military uses — known as dual-use technologies — from U.S. manufacturers and distributors in order to illegally send them to Russia for military use.
“Goltsev’s sentence sends a strong message that those who break our laws and contribute to Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine will be held accountable,” said assistant attorney general Matthew G. Olsen of the U.S. Justice Department’s National Security Division in a statement. “The Department of Justice will vigorously pursue those who procure the component parts that make Russia’s war machine tick. This case demonstrates that these wrongdoers will be found and punished accordingly.”
Prosecutors have said Goltsev, who was sentenced in a New York federal court on Wednesday, knew the electronics components he was smuggling would be used for military purposes and that in text messages intercepted by U.S. authorities he appeared to have celebrated his role in the country’s war effort.
The sentencing “brings accountability to Nikolay Goltsev for his conspiracy to ship millions of dollars of electronics to Russia in support of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” FBI director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Goltsev and his co-conspirators circumvented U.S. export control laws, used intermediary front companies to hide their crimes and sold sophisticated electronics to Russia for use in its weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment.”
U.S. officials say Goltsev and his co-conspirator Salimdzhon Nasriddinov co-ordinated more than 300 shipments worth over $7 million to Russia, routing them through third countries to disguise their real destination.
“Russian companies that sought to acquire particular parts or items from the United States placed orders with Goltsev. Goltsev communicated directly with U.S. manufacturers and distributors, typically using aliases. In those communications, Goltsev misrepresented and omitted material information, including information about how the items would be used, the various parties involved in the transactions and the identities of the ultimate Russian end users,” according to a sentencing memorandum submitted by U.S. federal prosecutor Breon Peace.
Components and integrated circuits with the same make, model and part number of those exported by Goltsev have been found in Russian battle tanks, Ka-52 attack helicopters, guided missiles and drones, as well as electronic warfare and reconnaissance systems captured by Ukrainian troops, according to Peace’s memorandum.
“The defendant exported electronic components and integrated circuits that play a critical role in the production of advanced Russian precision-guided weapons systems. Simply put, Russia cannot manufacture these parts itself. They need people like the defendants to lie to U.S. companies in order to make weapons,” the memorandum reads.
Prosecutors had been seeking a sentence on the “higher end” of the sentencing guidelines, which call for between 33 and 41 months.
Born in Tula, Russia, south of Moscow, Goltsev moved to Vancouver in 2008. About 2 1/2 years later, he relocated to the Montreal area.
He was arrested in a New York hotel room in October 2023 alongside his wife, Kristina Puzyreva. The two had travelled to the city to meet with Nasriddinov, who was arrested the same day.
Puzyreva, who pleaded guilty last February, was sentenced to 24 months in prison in July.
Nasriddinov, who pleaded guilty at the same time as Goltsev, is awaiting sentencing.
In a sentencing memorandum, Goltsev’s lawyer, Todd Spodek, asked for a 24-month sentence.
“Nikolay’s decision to plead guilty represents his sincere acknowledgment of his actions and their consequences,” Spodek wrote.
In testimonials submitted with the memorandum, Goltsev’s father and mother praised him as a reliable, empathetic family member who was always there for his loved ones.
While a sentencing memorandum submitted by Puzyreva’s lawyer in her case argued that Goltsev was extremely controlling and manipulated his wife, Puzyreva asked the judge to give her husband a second chance so they could start having children and he could pursue his dream of becoming a pharmacist.
Spodek also argued that conditions in the Brooklyn detention centre where Goltsev has been held for more than a year are so bad that he should be given leniency. Inmates at the facility are regularly locked down, served mouldy or rotten food, and Goltsev has had poor medical care, Spodek wrote. He has also witnessed an attempted suicide and watched another inmate who was stabbed bleed to death in front of him.
“The unfiltered violence that Nikolay has been confronted with daily at MDC Brooklyn has removed the proverbial wool from his eyes regarding his role in Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the enormous loss of life that has since resulted from the conflict. He no longer views the scheme he was integral to as a lucrative business opportunity, but an unscrupulous exchange of human lives for cash,” Spodek wrote.