US-Russian Citizen Charged With Trying to Illegally Ship 2 Aircraft to Russia
A dual U.S.-Russian citizen was arrested Dec. 2 for trying to export two small aircraft to Russia, said DOJ, which also seized the aircraft.
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In March 2023, Sergey Nechaev allegedly took part in a scheme to violate and evade U.S. export control laws by trying to get the Cessna aircraft to Russia by "transshipping them through Armenia," DOJ said. The U.S. said Nechaev tried to ship a 1968 Cessna 172K and a 1973 Cessna, collectively valued at around $170,000, to a Russian flight school without the required license from the Commerce Department.
Nechaev was charged with violating the Export Control Reform Act, smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law and causing the submission of "false and misleading information in Electronic Export Information paperwork submitted through the Automated Export System," DOJ said. He faces maximum sentences of 20 years for the ECRA violation, 10 years for the smuggling charge and five years for the false export information filing.