Montreal man sentenced in U.S. for exporting weapon components to Russia

MONTREAL — A Montreal man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison by a United States federal court for running a scheme to illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of electronic components to Russia for military use.

Nikolay Goltsev, 38, used two companies in Brooklyn, N.Y., to purchase electronics from U.S. manufacturers and send them to companies in Russia that are under sanction by the U.S. government. Some of the equipment was later found in seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine.

In a Wednesday news release, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Goltsev has been “held accountable for unlawfully procuring and profiting from the sale of U.S. technology to further Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine.”

The U.S. Department of Justice said in the press release that Goltsev purchased the electronics under the auspices of the two Brooklyn companies, called SH Brothers and SN Electronics, and arranged for them to be shipped to various locations in Brooklyn. He would then ship the equipment to several intermediary front companies in Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, and from there they were rerouted to Russia.

The department said that SH Brothers made hundreds of shipments to Russia worth more than US$7 million, and some of the components were critical to Russia’s precision-guided weapons systems being used against Ukraine.

Goltsev operated the lucrative scheme with his wife, Russian-Canadian Kristina Puzyreva, and another co-conspirator, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, who lives in Brooklyn. According to the press release, the government has seized US$1.68 million in connection with the operation, including US$20,000 in cash from the New York City hotel room where Goltsev was arrested.

The department also shared text messages between Goltsev and Puzyreva to show they knew the equipment was going to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. In a conversation in May 2023 about a drone attack in Moscow, Puzyreva texted Goltsev, “What is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin waiting for. He needs to destroy Ukraine.”

“Yeah they’re gonna get f—ed either way,” Goltsev answered.

Puzyreva, 33, was sentenced in July to 24 months in prison for conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the export scheme, and Nasriddinov, 54, is awaiting sentencing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 9, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press