Suspected Russian Intelligence Operative Extradited from Estonia to Face Charges Related to Providing American-Made Electronics and Ammunition to Russian Military

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

Defendant Allegedly Smuggled Dual-Use Technologies and Ammunition from U.S. Companies for Russia’s Defense Sector

A Russian citizen with alleged ties to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) will be arraigned today on an indictment charging him with conspiracy and other charges related to a global procurement and money laundering network on behalf of the Russian government.

According to court documents, Vadim Konoshchenok, 48, of Tallinn, Estonia, was arrested in Estonia on a provisional arrest warrant issued from the Eastern District of New York and extradited from Estonia to the United States on July 13.

“This defendant, who is suspected of having ties to the FSB, smuggled hundreds of thousands of illicit munitions in support of Moscow’s war machine, using front companies to conceal his criminal enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Department of Justice remains steadfast in its mission to counter Russian aggression and we will give no quarter to those who violate U.S. sanctions to further fuel its war effort.”

“In early December, I met with Estonian counterparts in Tallinn regarding the pending U.S. request to arrest Vadim Konoshchenok,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “I would like to pay tribute to Prosecutor General Andres Parmas’s team, and to the Estonian Internal Security Service, for their prioritization of this case, and for their close coordination with the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs on the provisional arrest and extradition of Konoshchenok.”

“As alleged, the defendant was a critical participant in a scheme to provide sensitive, American-made electronics and ammunition in furtherance of Russia’s war efforts and weapons development, violating U.S. export controls, economic sanctions and other criminal statutes,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. “Let this case serve as the latest example that no matter where you are in the world, if you violate U.S. export controls or evade U.S. sanctions, we will not rest until you face justice in a U.S. courtroom.”

“The FBI and our partners work diligently to bring to justice those who assist Russia’s military interests and put national security at risk,” said Assistant Director Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “According to the allegations in the indictment, Konoshchenok helped the FSB smuggle military grade ammunition and a range of nuclear and computer equipment which could be used as instruments of war. Today’s indictment is a fierce reminder of the lengths Russian intelligences services will go to advance Russia’s military capabilities. The FBI is deeply committed to disrupting and dismantling these actions.”

According to the indictment and court filings, Konoshchenok and his co-defendants were affiliated with Serniya Engineering and Sertal LLC (the Serniya Network), Moscow-based companies that operate under the direction of Russian intelligence services to procure advanced electronics and sophisticated testing equipment for Russia’s military industrial complex and research and development sector, some of which can be used in the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons, quantum computing and other military applications. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) levied sanctions against Serniya, Sertal and several individuals and companies engaged in the scheme, calling them “instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”

As alleged in the indictment, the Serniya Network was licensed to conduct highly sensitive and classified procurement activities by Russia’s FSB, Russia’s principal security agency and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB. According to court documents, in electronic communications, Konoshchenok explicitly identified himself as an FSB “Colonel” and enclosed a photograph of himself wearing his FSB uniform. Additionally, a review of electronic communications equipment recovered from Konoshchenok revealed saved contacts beginning with the prefix “FSB” and email addresses from “FSB[.]ru” domains. One of Konoshchenok’s calendar entries referenced an “FSB order.”

As described in the indictment, Estonia was a popular transshipment point, where Konoshchenok would smuggle U.S.-origin items across the border into Russia. On Oct. 27, 2022, Konoshchenok was detained by Estonian authorities while attempting to cross into Russia from Estonia with approximately 35 different types of semiconductors and electronic components, including several U.S.-origin and export-controlled items. Konoshchenok has also been repeatedly stopped by Estonian border officials attempting to smuggle hundreds of thousands of American-made and export-controlled rounds into Russia, including 6.5 mm, 7 mm, .338 and .308 magnum rounds, which are commonly used by snipers, as well as military-grade .223 rounds.

Konoshchenok used an Estonian front company called Stonebridge Resources and communicated frequently with other co-conspirators about sourcing, transporting and paying for controlled items. In electronic communications, Konoshchenok is clear that his fee is “10%” because he “can’t do less. Sanctions . . . Sanction item for 10%.”

To date, over half a ton of military-grade ammunition linked to Konoshchenok has been recovered or interdicted before being smuggled into Russia.

If convicted, Konoshchenok faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The FBI is investigating the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Estonian authorities, including Estonian Internal Security Service (KAPO) and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Estonia, provided significant assistance in securing foreign evidence, the arrest and extradition of Konoshchenok.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Artie McConnell and Matthew Skurnik for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

This case has been coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with its allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will leverage all the Department’s tools and authorities against efforts to evade or undermine the economic actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

Topics: Countering Nation-State Threats
Export Control

Components: Criminal Division
Criminal – Office of International Affairs
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
National Security Division (NSD)
USAO – New York, Eastern

26.

Russian General Says He Was Fired After Accusing Commanders Of Betraying Troops In Ukraine

By Mike Eckel July 13, 2023

A top Russian field commander says he was dismissed after disagreements with superior officers over the situation on the front lines, an unusual public display of dissent from within the Russian ranks after just over 500 days of war in Ukraine.

The complaints by Major General Ivan Popov, which came in an audio message circulated by a prominent Russian lawmaker on July 12, suggest continuing intrigues following last month’s mutiny by the private Wagner mercenary group and its owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The mutiny, which saw around 5,000 Wagner soldiers racing toward, then stopping 200 kilometers short of Moscow, lasted around 24 hours. But the effort was the biggest challenge to Vladimir Putin’s 23 years as Russia’s preeminent figure, and observers have looked for signs that the Kremlin could purge military commanders or political figures over the incident.

One prominent army officer, General Sergei Surovikin, who briefly served as overall commander for the Ukraine war and is believed to be a close ally of Prigozhin, has not been seen or heard from since the mutiny erupted on June 24.

In the four-minute recording, Popov, who was the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army deployed in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzya region, said he had complained to the chief of Russia’s General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, about the need to rotate frontline troops.

Zaporizhzhya is one of several fronts where Ukrainian forces last month launched the beginnings of a widely anticipated counteroffensive. Its troops have made slow advances and fighting is reported to be intense.

Addressing what he called “my dear gladiators,” Popov, whose military call sign was “Spartacus,” complained that Russian forces were being hampered by problems with counterbattery radar and artillery reconnaissance. He said Russian troops were hit with a “blow from the rear.”

Popov reports that he raised questions about the lack of counterbattery combat, artillery reconnaissance stations, and, as a result, the death of Russian soldiers in connection with this.

“Our army could not be broken at the front, by the armed forces of Ukraine. [Instead] we were hit with a blow from the rear by the senior commander; treacherously and vilely decapitating the army at the most difficult and tense moment,” he was heard saying.

“There was a difficult situation with the senior bosses, where it was necessary to either keep quiet and be a coward or to tell it like it is,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Popov was referring to by saying “blow from the rear.”

News of Popov’s dismissal first appeared on a Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner Group, saying Gerasmiov dismissed him for accusing him of “disinformation and alarmism.”

Hours later, the audio recording of Popov’s message circulated on the Telegram channel of Andrei Gurulyov, a Duma lawmaker who previously served as deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District. Gurulyov also was a commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, like Popov.

The identity of the voice on the recording could not be independently verified, and it was unclear when it was made. Russian military bloggers and a handful of lawmakers appeared to confirm Popov was the speaker.

Gurulyov was criticized by other Russian lawmakers, including Andrei Turchak, the deputy chairman of Russia’s upper house of parliament, for releasing Popov’s recording, saying it was not intended to be made public.

Still, Turchak said, Popov’s “conscience is clear. The Motherland can be proud of such commanders.”

Though it remains unclear if Popov’s criticism was intended to be publicized, it was to be the first such complaint of its sort from a serving officer — moreover, it comes from a top field commander.

As of July 13, neither the Defense Ministry nor top commanders had publicly commented on Popov’s firing or resignation.

Popov’s purported demotion came days after the death of another Russian general in Ukraine. Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov was reported dead on July 11 in the port city of Berdyansk, allegedly killed in a strike of cruise missiles fired by Ukrainian forces.

The Defense Ministry has not commented about Tsokov either, but Gurulyov appeared to confirm Tsokov’s death in comments to state TV on July 11.

Tsokov, like Gurulyov before him, served as deputy commander of the Southern Military District.

A connection between Popov’s resignation, or firing, and Prigozhin’s mutiny last month wasn’t immediately clear.

Unlike with Popov’s criticism, Prigozhin had openly feuded with top commanders overseeing Russia’s invasion in Ukraine for months leading up to the mutiny. He had repeatedly criticized, and mocked, Gerasimov, as well as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in an unusually public way that suggested he had some sort of tacit approval to do so.

Putin has publicly called those soldiers who participated in the mutiny “traitors” who had inflicted a “stab in the back” of Russia. But since then, there has been little public indication of purges or remonstrations or punishment for the mutineers.

Prigozhin, for his part, has been mostly out of public view, though he was reported to have traveled to Belarus, and then later was reported to be traveling openly in Russia. The Kremlin has admitted Prigozhin attended a meeting with Putin and others, including unit commanders from Wagner, on June 29.

Surovikin, meanwhile, has not been seen nor heard from since the initial hours of the mutiny, fueling speculation that he has been arrested.

Another prominent Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Duma’s Armed Services Committee, was asked on July 12 if he knew where Surovikin currently was.

“He’s on holiday. Out of touch,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.

The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the situation,” said that the Kremlin’s efforts to purge military officers suspected of disloyalty included at least 13 senior officers detained for questioning, and around 15 suspended from duty or fired.

Gerasimov, who also has been out of public view since the mutiny, was shown in a video released by the Defense Ministry on July 10 attending a meeting at Southern Military District headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

When Surovikin was removed as overall commander of the Ukraine invasion in January, he was replaced by Gerasimov.

Western officials have watched the mutiny and its aftermath closely, trying to determine what effects it may have on the Ukraine war, not to mention the security of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

The commander of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on July 13 that Russia’s leadership suffered from a significant amount of “friction and confusion” since the mutiny, but it wasn’t fully clear what the effect on the battlefield would be.

“At the strategic level it is pretty clear that you have a significant amount of friction and confusion,” General Mark Milley told reporters while traveling in Asia.

“There’s a lot of drama going on at the very senior levels. How that’s all going to play out at the end of the day? I’m not so sure yet,” he was quoted as saying. “I don’t think we’re done with it. I think there’s many more chapters to be heard on that.”

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-general- dismissed-complaints/32501538.html

Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.