Alexey Malgavko/Reuters
- Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky pleaded guilty to his part in a scheme selling aircraft parts to Russia.
- Plane safety incidents tripled in Russia last year compared to 2022, as it struggles with sanctions.
- Russian operators have resorted to smuggling in spare parts, or cannibalizing grounded jets.
A Kansas business owner pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and money laundering in relation to selling aircraft parts to Russia, the Department of Justice announced last month.
The scheme highlights how Russia has struggled to keep its commercial planes in the air since western sanctions were imposed after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky, the owner of KanRus Trading, took part in "a years-long conspiracy to circumvent US export laws by filing false export forms," the DoJ said.
He was arrested in March last year, alongside KanRus vice-president Douglas Robertson, who pleaded not guilty to 26 counts, The Associated Press reported.
According to the plea agreement seen by Business Insider, the pair conspired to sell avionics equipment to Russian customers. It added they attempted to conceal the sales by naming false end users, and shipping via countries including the United Arab Emirates.
Buyanovsky also admitted that he did business with Russia's security agency, the FSB, on at least one occasion.
The DoJ said he and Robertson removed an FSB sticker from a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) before sending it to another US company to be repaired. Then, they replaced the sticker and smuggled it back to the FSB.
Buyanovsky consented to the forfeiture of over $450,000 worth of avionics equipment, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 21. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
Struggling to stay in the air
Despite the sanctions, Russia has managed to keep many jets flying — smuggling in an estimated $14 million of spare parts, or cannibalizing them from grounded jets and creating a "Frankenstein fleet."
However, plane safety incidents in Russia tripled last year as airlines struggled to maintain their fleets.
That included a Ural Airlines A320, which made an emergency landing in a Siberian field after its hydraulics system failed.
The airline has been trying to repair the jet so it can take off from the field.
Sanctions also resulted in 700 leased planes, worth some $12 billion, being stranded in Russia.
Lessors managed to retrieve some aircraft before a new law was implemented allowing foreign jets to be reregistered as Russian, BBC News reported.