Filenews 10 March 2023 - by Fanis Makridis
Even in the midst of the war in Ukraine, two US businessmen allegedly supplied the invading Russians with technological aviation equipment. What is remarkable in this case is that Cyprus is allegedly indirectly involved in the illegal activities under investigation.
The case has recently been of concern to the authorities of the United States of America and specifically to the federal police of the country. The FBI, which is why, is investigating in cooperation with the government's department responsible for trade and exports.
In fact, the investigative work seems to be at an advanced stage. As announced by the US prosecutors, last Thursday the two businessmen were arrested on the basis of a warrant.
They are 59-year-old Americanized Kirill Bijanovski and 55-year-old Douglas Robertson. The two, according to the indictment filed in a Kansas district court, are the owners and directors of the KanRus Trading Company. This business entity supplied aviation equipment to Russian companies. More specifically, it supplied them with electronic systems installed on aircraft. As the Americans report, these systems may have involved telecommunications, navigation, flight control and threat detection.
The two businessmen also offered repair services for equipment used in Russian-made aircraft. In a statement posted at the U.S. Department of Justice, it is noted that since 2020, the two accountable businessmen have conspired to circumvent U.S. export laws.
It is also explained that they declared false data in order to conceal the final recipients and users of the equipment, as well as the actual amount of transactions. This, as noted, was achieved by using third countries. And this is where Cyprus enters the frame of the case. It is reported that, in order to achieve their objectives, they used, inter alia, Armenia and Cyprus, from which they re-exported equipment "without having obtained the required permits".
According to the official position of the US Department of Justice, the two businessmen had a take-away with Russian counterintelligence. It is characteristically noted that "between November and February 2021, the defendants received aviation equipment, including a processing computer bearing a sticker identical to the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB). The defendants concealed the truth of both the beneficiary and the final recipient by providing a fraudulent invoice to the shipping company declaring Germany as the final destination."
"F", examining the indictment, identified at least 11 references to Cyprus. The conditions under which an export was made to a Russian company through our island, on May 20, 2022, that is, in the midst of the war in Ukraine, are described in detail. In fact, for the purposes of this export, the Americans refer to a Cypriot bank account allegedly used by the participants in the case.
We summarize some references to the "Cyprus case":
⦁ Executive Director of a Russian company, on 26/4/2022 a Russian-Cyprus flight scheduled for 14/5/2022 was booked.
⦁ On 16/5/2022 Bijanovski ordered seven systems on behalf of the above person. These required permission from the Ministry of Commerce.
⦁ Around 20/5/2022 the executive director of the Russian company made a payment through a Cypriot bank account to the account of KanRus. Rompresson arranged the export at a Cypriot home address. He failed to fill in the required documents for export. Then he e-mailed the invoice to the official of the Russian company. The latter received the package in Cyprus on 26/5. On 28/5 he flew back to Russia.
