Belarus Citizen Charged With Shipping Spectrometer to Russia

A Hallandale, Florida, resident was charged on July 2 with smuggling controlled goods into Russia from the U.S. Kirill Gordei, president of Florida-based freight forwarding company Apelsin Logistics, faces three counts -- conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., smuggling goods from the U.S. and exporting a spectrometer, a controlled item, unlawfully -- DOJ announced. A Belarus citizen and U.S. permanent resident, Gordei faces maximums of five, 10 and 20 years in prison for the charges, respectively.

In August, Gordei falsely told U.S. authorities that he was shipping an "Orbitrap Exploris GC 240 Mass Spectrometer," an item that transmits biomolecular data, to Uzbekistan when it was actually meant for Russia, DOJ alleged. In April 2022, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security added spectrometers to the Commerce Control List, which requires a license for export to Russia.