WASHINGTON, DC – Oleg Chistyakov, also known as Olegs Čitsjakovs, 56, of Latvia, pleaded guilty today in federal court for his role in a years-long conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws by unlawfully sending controlled U.S.-origin avionics equipment to customers in Russia, including after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
According to court documents, Chistyakov conspired with U.S. citizens Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, 62, and Douglas Edward Robertson, 58, both of Kansas, to purchase and export sophisticated avionics equipment to Russian entities, including the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Both Buyanovsky and Robertson were arrested in March 2023 and have since pleaded guilty.
Despite tightened U.S. export restrictions following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Chistyakov and his co-conspirators continued procuring and exporting avionics components to Russia without the required licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Chistyakov admitted to operating from Latvia and using his United Arab Emirates-based company, RosAero FZC, to work with Buyanovsky and Robertson through their U.S.-based company, KanRus Trading Company Inc. The conspirators concealed their activities by falsifying invoices, routing shipments through countries such as Laos and the UAE, using bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the UAE, and exporting through intermediary firms that reexported to the final recipients.
As part of the plea, Chistyakov agreed to a personal forfeiture judgment. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 10, 2026.
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Rask and Ryan Huschka of the District of Kansas and Trial Attorney Adam Barry of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs secured Chistyakov’s extradition from Latvia in August 2024. U.S. Customs and Border Protection also provided significant support.
