US-made tech is flowing to Russian airlines, despite sanctions

Russian customs data shows millions of dollars worth of aircraft parts made by Boeing, Airbus and others were sent to Russia last year. last year.

Last August, Oleg Patsulya, a Russian citizen living near Miami, emailed a Russian airline that had been cut off from Western technology and materials with a tempting offer.

It could help circumvent global sanctions imposed on Rossiya Airlines after Russia invaded Ukraine by mixing aircraft parts and electronics it desperately needed through a network of companies based in Florida, Turkey and Russia.

"In light of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, we have successfully addressed the issues that arise,” Patsulya wrote, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court. in Arizona.

Mr. Patsulya and his business partner were arrested on Thursday for violating U.S. export controls and international money laundering in a case that illustrates the global networks trying to help Russia circumvent the most extensive technology controls in the history.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has partnered with nearly 40 other governments to impose sanctions on Russia, including including limits on Moscow's access to weapons, computer chips, aircraft parts and other goods needed to fuel its economy and its war. The sanctions also applied to Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, its subsidiary Rossiya and others.

But despite these far-reaching sanctions, thousands of shipments of aircraft parts were successfully sent to Russia last year, according to a trove of Russian customs data obtained by The New York Times.

The data, which has compiled and analyzed by Import Genius, a US-based commercial data aggregator, shows that tens of millions of dollars worth of aircraft parts were sent to Russian airlines explicitly under EU sanctions. from the Biden administration, including to Rossiya Airlines, Aeroflot, Ural Airlines, S7 Airlines, Utair Aviation and Pobeda Airlines.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">These shipments were made possible by networks illicit like that of Mr Patsulya, which have sprung up in an attempt to circumvent restrictions by passing goods through a series of straw buyers, often in the Middle East and Asia. .

For example, dozens of shipments of copper wire, bolts, graphite and other parts marked as made in the United States by Boeing slipped through in Aeroflot warehouses last year. They passed through obscure trading companies, free trade zones and industrial parks in the United Arab Emirates and China, then traveled to Russia to help repair Aeroflot's dilapidated fleet.

Data captures over 5,000 individual aircraft parts shipments to Russia over an eight-month period in 2022, ranging from simple screws to a Honeywell-branded aircraft engine starter worth $290,000.

In total, this shows that $14.4 million in US-made aircraft parts were sent to Russia over the past eight months, including $8.9 million worth of parts described as manufactured or trademarked by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and sold in Russia through third parties.

  World   May 15, 2023   0   54  Add to Reading List