Estonian citizen in US pleads guilty to procuring electronics for Russia
An Estonian citizen has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to illegally procuring sensitive electronics for the Russian military over a ten-year period. The defendant faces up to 40 years in prison and has agreed to forfeit $1.5 million.
Why it matters
This case underscores international efforts to enforce export controls and prevent the flow of dual-use technology to hostile military actors.
0" class="share-svg-text" aria-label="Marked as liked. Number of likes is {{contentCtrl.likes}}" fill="#FFF" font-size="12px" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="middle" x="49%" y="53%">{{contentCtrl.likes}} kopeeri link --> share Facebook X (Twitter) Messenger --> e-mail American and Estonian flags. Source: (Siim Lõvi/ERR) News An Estonian citizen has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to procuring sensitive electronics for the benefit of the Russian military for "nearly a decade" and faces up to 40 years' imprisonment.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Estonian citizen Andrey Shevlyakov's scheme to evade export rules caused the illegal export of over $1 million worth of sensitive electronics from the United States.
Court documents show Shevlyakov was banned from acquiring any items from the United States without the Department of Commerce's permission, and he spent years evading U.S. export controls.
He was arrested by the Estonian authorities in 2023 and extradited to the U.S. in August 2025.
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