Russian man sentenced for people smuggling

TORONTO — A Russian man with backwoods skills has been sentenced to three years in prison for helping smuggle a person from Canada into the United States, court records show.

A jury had convicted Nikolay Souslov, 70, of two charges in May, but acquitted him on a third charge that he had profited from his wrongdoing.

According to court documents, Souslov conspired to move a person illegally into the U.S. The prosecution also argued he was the principal behind smuggling at least seven people into the U.S., a number they said was “undoubtedly conservative.”

According to U.S. authorities, Souslov had flown from Russia to Toronto or Montreal numerous times using various aliases. He was refused entry to the United States on at least one occasion but somehow managed to make his way to New York and obtain U.S. documents. The U.S. deported him in 2004, but he kept returning. Canada also deported him in 2015.

Souslov’s conviction stemmed from an incident on Oct. 19, 2016, when he was caught about five kilometres west of the Champlain crossing in northern New York state. U.S. agents intercepted the Russian citizen and Teona Janashvili, a Georgian citizen, little more than a kilometre south of the Canada-U.S. border. Neither had valid immigration documents.

The crossing links Champlain with St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que.

The agents also stopped Nadezhda Popova, who was driving nearby in a New Jersey-registered car. She told them she was a U.S. citizen, had lived in the U.S. for 18 years, and was lost. She later admitted she was there to pick up people.

“Asked where they were coming from, Popova stated that they were coming from Canada,” court records show.

The investigation revealed that Souslov had arranged for Popova to pick them both up

At trial, Souslov testified he entered the U.S. illegally to visit his son and grandson who live in New York City. He maintained he needed Janashvili as a companion because he was in poor health and she, too, had wanted to enter the U.S. The jury didn’t buy his claims but did accept he was not financially motivated.

Souslov’s lawyer Mark Anderson argued for a time-served sentence — about 14 months.

“The defendant has affirmed that he will never again attempt to return to the United States,” Anderson said. “He simply wishes to return home to Perm, Russia, to live out the remainder of his years with his wife.”

The prosecution, however, argued for a sentence of up to almost four years and a fine up to $150,000.

“The defendant was the leader of a sophisticated organization responsible for smuggling a number of illegal aliens from Russia and Eastern Europe, across the globe into the United States,” the prosecution said in its presentencing submissions. “While the defendant maintained that he was just going to visit his family in New York City and needed ‘travel companions,’ the government submitted significant evidence that this was not the case.”

Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby, of the U.S. District Court in northern New York, sentenced Souslov to 37 months on the first charge of conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens and 12 months — to run concurrently — on the second, attempting to or smuggling illegal aliens.

Souslov will also be on probation for three years.