Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say an international arms dealer quietly ran a web of shell companies to move military-grade ammunition through Kyrgyzstan and into Russia’s war effort, using everyday shipping paperwork to disguise where it was really headed. The scheme, highlighted this month by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, plugs a Brooklyn federal case into a much larger crackdown on sanctions-evading supply chains. The defendant later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court earlier this year.
According to a January 22 press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, 47-year-old Sergei Zharnovnikov of Bishkek admitted to conspiring to export American-made firearms and ammunition and was sentenced in Brooklyn to 39 months in prison. Court filings alleged the operation moved roughly $1.58 million in U.S.-manufactured weapons and that about 13,000 rounds ordered through an Italian intermediary were reexported to Kyrgyzstan before reaching Russia. Prosecutors also said some of the exported rifles have been used by Russian military units, a detail they cited to underscore the national security stakes.
In a March 30 social post, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reiterated that the defendant “used multiple companies to hide his scheme” to send military-grade ammunition to Kyrgyzstan before it was reexported to Russia, according to the office's post on X (EDNY on X).
(1/2) “The defendant used multiple companies to hide his scheme to send military‑grade ammunition to Kyrgyzstan, before it was reexported to Russia to support its war effort,” stated United States Attorney Nocella.
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) March 30, 2026
Why this matters
Local coverage following the January sentencing zeroed in on how a Brooklyn prosecution fits into the global effort to police Russian supply chains, with prosecutors saying the case involved commercial paperwork and intermediaries that masked the ammunition’s final destination. As reported by a network of contracts and shipments, federal filings describe deals and routing choices that prosecutors say were designed to sidestep export licenses. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has publicly targeted Kyrgyz intermediaries and regional payment platforms as part of a broader campaign to disrupt schemes that move weapons and financing into Russia's military supply chain.
Legal implications
Prosecutors charged the defendant with conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls; after his guilty plea he faced statutory exposure that the Justice Department said can include up to 20 years in prison, along with potential forfeiture and deportation for non-citizens. On the regulatory side, the Commerce Department has tightened reexport rules for Russia and Belarus, handling license applications to those destinations under a presumption of denial, which helps explain why prosecutors characterized the transactions as deliberate attempts to evade U.S. controls.
EDNY’s March 30 post brought renewed public attention to a case that federal prosecutors say shows how commercial intermediaries and front companies can be used to hide the true destination of sensitive U.S.-origin materiel. Officials say they will keep pursuing companies and individuals involved in reexport schemes, and local reporting will likely track any new filings or appellate developments in Brooklyn federal court.
