Kirill Gordei, a citizen of Belarus and a permanent resident of the USA, has been accused of smuggling scientific equipment from the US into Russia without permission.
The US Department of Justice claims that Kirill is the president of Apelsin Logistics, a freight forwarder based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, which also has offices in Russia. Evidence on the website HH.Ru shows that the company also has offices in New York and St Petersburg (Russia).
According to the department’s statement, in August 2023, Gordei allegedly claimed that he had shipped an Orbitrap Exploris GC 240 Mass Spectrometer – an item that provides high data quality and versatility for accelerating scientific discovery in academic and industrial research and government laboratories – to Uzbekistan, when in fact it was destined for Russia. Such a supply required a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security for export to Russia, but Gordei did not apply for it.
“By allegedly smuggling sensitive technology to Russia, Mr. Gordei undermined the critical framework established to protect national security,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts.
If convicted, Gordey faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment for the conspiracy charge, up to 20 years’ prison, five years supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, for the illegal export charge; and up to ten years’ imprisonment, three years supervised release and $25,00, fine for smuggling goods from the US.
