The former director of the firm, which came under investigation by the FBI for illegal shipments of electronics from the United States in circumvention of sanctions, Sergey Ershov, told The Agency that all supplies they made before April of this year were coordinated with the US State Department. In a conversation with The Insider, he clarified that in order to obtain permission to supply, it is necessary to explain who and why will use these goods. At the same time, according to him, it is impossible to prove subsequently that the goods were not used for their intended purpose. The FBI accuses the company of supplying electronics to the Russian military and intelligence agencies.
On December 14, a US court indicted five Russians for purchasing military technology around the sanctions. According to the Ministry of Justice, the deliveries were “under the direction of the Russian special services” through a network of front companies located around the world, including in the United States. This network, according to the investigation, was run by Sertal and Sernia Engineering, registered in Russia. The FBI believes that Rosatom, the Ministry of Defense, the SVR and the FSB used the services of the companies. Sertal and Sernia Engineering came under US sanctions at the end of March, the Agency notes that their data on the OFAC website match those of SPARK and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Ershov claims that all transactions with his company were authorized by American equipment suppliers:
“There is a division in the US State Department that decides who and what to sell, but this only applies to equipment that is under embargo and so on, or dual-use goods. The American manufacturer itself asks this division of the State Department for permission to sell products to a certain company.
The purchase is made as follows. We place an order with a manufacturer, let's say an American one. We place either directly with him or with his representative office in Russia. After that, there is an approval procedure, that is, if the equipment is not included in the lists and is not subject to passing through a commission, then the manufacturer simply sells it, and if it is included in the lists, then the manufacturer requires an End user statement document from us. In this document, the buyer indicates for which organization these goods are intended, for what purposes they will be used. Then it will be coordinated with the State Department. The State Department gives good or does not give.
“As a rule, purchased goods are used for their declared purpose, but if they are used for something else, it will be impossible to prove it,” Yershov said.
According to Yershov, his company supplied radio measuring equipment and other goods. “It is clear what this technique is used for. Those laws and regulations that the FBI refers to came out after we made the deliveries. And now they are starting to invent in hindsight. They just need to impose sanctions on someone and justify it somehow,” Yershov said.
When asked if he could name the organizations to which Sertal sold products purchased in the United States, Ershov replied that he did not remember, “because it was a long time ago.” He added that the responsibility for violating the sanctions lies with American companies, but he will not sue:
“In a good way, those companies that sold goods to us should also be held accountable. If they sold us products that were forbidden for sale, it turns out that they are also to blame for this. But they have no complaints. Well, what can you do? I'm not going to sue or argue with them. There is no point in fighting the mills.”
Ershov said that his company, for example, bought measuring equipment, which is used to tune TVs, and to tune antenna systems, and to create transmitters:
“This is a technique without which it is impossible to study electrical circuits and signals. It can be used to make a home radio, or you can set up a satellite communication system. The fact is that there are bans on frequency bands that, in their opinion, can be used for military purposes. First they introduced a ceiling of 30 GHz, then 40 GHz, then 50 GHz. There are certain measurement technique parameters that can be used with dual purpose. They decided like this, and they believe that this technique can be used both there and there. ”
According to him, technology has to be bought in the West, because this direction is not developed in Russia:
“When we joined the WTO, we abandoned all our technologies, and therefore everything remained in the West. There are leading world manufacturers of such equipment in America, Germany, Japan, and even in China. We have ruined this direction in Russia. We buy everything. Now I know that our developers strive to get the same results. It is clear that some certain time must pass. Let's create this technique. This technique can now be replaced by China, but they are also cautious, because there may be chips and components that are made in the USA, and they can cut off their oxygen, ” .
Earlier, Reuters, together with the Royal Joint Institute for Defense Research, found out that Western countries continue to supply semiconductors to Russia, despite sanctions. For this purpose, firms - "gaskets" are being created in Turkey and Hong Kong. Thus, from April to November, the United States and European countries supplied Russia with chips worth $777 million, including components from Intel, AMD, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices and Infineon.
On December 15, Important Stories published an investigation jointly conducted with Reuters and the British Institute for Defense Research, which says that Western companies continue to supply Russia with components for Russian Orlan-10 drones during the war in Ukraine. In the past months of 2022 alone, the Russian Federation made purchases worth more than $25.75 million (1.65 billion rubles), including from US companies.