War in Ukraine | Quebec couple accused of supplying Russian army

A couple from the West Island of Montreal were arrested in the United States on Tuesday and accused of organizing a supply nerve network for the Russian war machine. According to authorities, the electronic components illegally exported by the duo were found on the Ukrainian battlefield in Russian tanks, missiles, helicopters and other equipment.

“It is alleged that the defendants illegally exported millions of dollars’ worth of electronic components to support the Kremlin in its ongoing attack on Ukraine,” said Ivan J. Arvelo, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official. -United.

“In the span of a year, this criminal organization circumvented United States sanctions and laws, and managed to send more than 300 shipments of restricted export items, with an estimated value of approximately $10 million dollars, to the Russian battlefield,” he added in a statement.

Nikolay Goltsev and Kristina Puzyreva, a couple from Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue who have dual Russian and Canadian nationality, were arrested in a Manhattan hotel Tuesday morning. Authorities seized $20,000 in cash from them. They now face a sentence of five to six years in prison if convicted.

A man suspected of being the couple’s accomplice, a Brooklyn resident who has dual Russian and Tajik nationality, was also arrested and dozens of boxes of semiconductors and other electronic components were seized from his home.

Long-standing relationship

In court documents filed in court by the American justice system, Nikolay Goltsev is described as having a “long-standing” relationship with his contacts in Russia. The 37-year-old man is believed to have supplied the Russian army for more than 12 years, according to American investigators.

According to an affidavit from a US federal agent filed in court in Brooklyn, Goltsev received orders from his Russian contacts and used two front companies established in New York to purchase the coveted parts from American suppliers. During his purchases, he used false names: these were his “creative pseudonyms”, he explained to an accomplice in a communication intercepted by investigators.

Goltsev, who formerly worked for a Montreal electronic components company, explained in another intercepted email that it was becoming difficult to conduct business in Canada and that it might be easier to do everything from the United States. .

According to the investigation, the components purchased by the suspects, including advanced integrated circuits, were first exported to Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, using a falsified documentation, then were redirected to Russia, in contravention of sanctions which prohibit sending equipment for military use there.

The suspects were among the largest exporters of integrated circuits to Russia, with shipments worth more than US$7 million. Russia, which does not produce these critical components locally and which does not have access to a sufficient number of suppliers, has been actively seeking suppliers since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

Discoveries on the battlefield

Still according to the American investigator’s affidavit, parts of the same model and origin as those exported by the suspects were found in military equipment seized from the Russians in Ukraine.

The Russian military equipment in which these components were found

• T-72B tanks

• Ka-52 helicopters

• Izdeliye 305E guided missiles

• Orlan-10 drones

• Borisoglebsk 2 mobile electronic warfare device

The lawsuit alleges that the couple residing in Quebec often visited New York, where Kristina Puzyreva would deposit large sums of cash into American bank accounts. The funds were then redirected to the couple’s bank accounts in Canada.

Business was booming, according to investigators. M^me Puzyreva, who nevertheless displayed her sympathy towards Ukraine on her Facebook profile, was privately delighted to see the millions of dollars paid by the couple’s Russian clients. “We’re going to get rich!” “, she rejoiced in an intercepted message.

Investigators say they intercepted several other messages where the suspects worry about getting caught and clearly show they know their business is illegal. At one point, one of them worried that the Ukrainian government would denounce the fact that its soldiers were being bombed using equipment imported from the United States, which could push the American authorities to launch new investigations.

According to the lawsuit, Goltsev also sent a message to an accomplice on February 23, while Russia was celebrating “Defender of the Fatherland Day.”

“We are defending her however we can,” he wrote with a smiley face emoji.

Few details about their life in Quebec

Little is known about the Goltsev-Puzyreva couple so far. When purchasing their house in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue in 2015, they declared that they had gotten married in Quebec that same year. Goltsev previously worked for an electronic components company in the Saint-Laurent borough, Electronic Network. The company was sanctioned by the U.S. government in connection with the export of parts to Russia last winter.

Juergen Mayr, one of the co-owners of the company, assured The Press Wednesday that it was now closed and that Nikolay Goltsev had not worked there for many years anyway. “I don’t want to be associated with him,” he said.

US federal prosecutors have requested that both members of the couple remain detained until their trial for fear that they could flee, because they only need to enter a Russian diplomatic mission to become beyond the reach of the police . They also have a network of international contacts and financial resources that could facilitate their escape, according to the lawsuit.