Two years in federal jail were given to a 62-year-old woman who was found guilty of illegally sending “defense articles” to Russia, such as thermal imaging scopes and night-vision goggles.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Elena Shifrin, who lives in Mundelein, Illinois, shipped more than 60 items to Russia without getting permission from the U.S. State Department between 2017 and 2020. She did this with several other people.
The Arms Export Control Act was broken by Shifrin, who admitted his crime in February 2022.
The things were bought and sent to Shifrin and other conspirators in Illinois and California, according to U.S. attorneys. They were then sent to Russia using fake senders and addresses.
They said the things were “non-export items like clothing and concealed the defense articles in other items like toolkits and kitchen appliances,” which was not true.
A 43-year-old man from Corona, California, named Igor Panchernikov was one of Shifrin’s partners in crime. He had been in the US Air Force Reserve and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act in March 2023. In June 2023, he was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.
Boris Polosin, from Russia, and Vladimir Gohman, from Israel, are still on the run after being linked to the case.
Five people were charged in the case, but on January 19, the charges against Vladimir Pridacha, 59, of Volo, Illinois, were dropped.
This arrest is the most recent in a long line of probes into sending weapons to Russia.
Dimitry Timashev, 58, was found guilty in June by U.S. prosecutors of “conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act by exporting firearm parts, components, and ammunition to Russia without the required authorization.”
Timashev’s daughter got school fees and rent for an apartment in Ekaterinburg, Russia, in exchange for the guns.
Four people were arrested in October 2023: one from Brooklyn, New York; two from Canada; and a person from Russia. They were all involved in a complex global procurement scheme. The defendants used two Brooklyn-based corporations to illegally find and buy two million dollars worth of dual-use electronics for end users in Russia, including Russian military companies.