Russian nationals charged in scheme to ship ammo, tech to home country

Five Russian nationals — including one former Brooklyn resident — are accused of trying to get around sanctions to send ammo and tech from the U.S. to Russia.

The scheme involved shell corporations and bank accounts, and forged shipping documents to buy items like sniper bullets and electronic components — some of which could be used to develop nuclear and hypersonic weapons — and sneak them across the Estonian border, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Tuesday.

The suspects were indicted on charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to violate sanctions the U.S. imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

One member of the conspiracy, Boris Livshits, 52, a former Brooklyn man living in St. Petersburg, Russia, used shell corporations to buy items from U.S. companies, lied and left out information “about how the item would be used, the various parties involved in the transaction, and the identity of the ultimate end user,” according to court filings.

Another suspect, Vadim Konoshchenok, 48, a self-described “colonel” for Russia’s intelligence agency, was stopped at the Estonian border on Oct. 22 with 35 different types of semiconductors and other electronic components as well as thousands of “U.S.-origin” sniper rifle bullets, the feds allege.

He was released and arrested in Estonia on Nov. 24 trying to cross into Russia with about 20 cases of bullets from the U.S., and when Estonian authorities searched a warehouse he used, they found 375 pounds of ammo, the feds allege.

Alexey Brayman, a permanent U.S. resident living in New Hampshire, and Vadim Yermolenko, a U.S. citizen living in New Jersey, were also arrested in the plot.