Russian allegedly smuggled US weapons electronics to Moscow

A Russian national helped smuggle, via shell companies in Hong Kong, more than $1.6 million in microelectronics to Moscow potentially to support its war against Ukraine, it is claimed.

The US Justice Department on Monday slapped seven charges on Maxim Marchenko, 51, over his alleged involvement in the scheme to illegally procure US-sourced OLED displays on behalf of end users in Russia. These so-called dual-use displays can be used in rifle-scopes, night-vision goggles, thermal optics, and other weapon systems, among other applications.

It's worth noting that it's not so much that Uncle Sam knew for sure that the displays would be used in weapons; the government is unhappy that, in its mind, laws were broken to get electronics with potential military uses quietly into Russia at a time when the Kremlin was ordering daily assaults on its neighboring nation.

"We are laser-focused on rooting out the procurement ...