A U.S. citizen and two Russian nationals were arrested for allegedly exporting sensitive military technology from the United States to Russia, the U.S. Justice Department has said.
The department said on October 6 that Alexei Barysheff of New York, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested for illegally exporting controlled technology.
Russian nationals Dmitry Aleksandrovich Karpenko and Aleksei Krutilin, were simultaneously arrested on charges of conspiring with Barysheff.
The government said the three men engaged in a conspiracy to obtain microelectronics from manufacturers and suppliers in the United States and export them to Russia while evading government controls on high-tech exports.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of violating a 1999 treaty governing criminal cases by not notifying Russian authorities within three days of arresting the Russian nationals.
"We have repeatedly said that such actions, which violate the rights and interests of Russian citizens, are unacceptable and unlawful," Konstantin Dolgov, the ministry's envoy on human rights, told Interfax.
The United States restricts the export of items it believes could undermine U.S. national security.
The department said the microelectronics shipped to Russia included digital-to-analog converters and integrated circuits used in a wide range of military systems, including radar and missile-guidance systems.
It said Barysheff had registered two companies in New York that were used as front companies to purchase and export the controlled technology, while concealing from their suppliers the intended final destination.
