U.S. court hands Armenian citizen two years in prison for supplying American equipment to Russia despite sanctions
On Sept. 2, a federal court in Austin, Texas sentenced Armenian citizen Kamo Kirakosyan to two years and two months in prison for taking part in a criminal conspiracy to illegally export goods from the United States to Russia through Armenia. The sentence was announced by Justin Simmons, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas. In April, Kirakosyan pleaded guilty to one count of…
On September 2, a federal court in Austin, Texas handed down a two-year and two-month prison sentence to Armenian citizen Kamo Kirakosyan. The court's decision followed Kirakosyan's guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy to violate U.S. federal law. In April, Kirakosyan had cooperated with prosecutors, providing crucial information about his role in a criminal network.
From February 2022 to August 2024, Kirakosyan acted as a front buyer for U.S.-origin goods on behalf of his accomplices in Russia. According to the indictment, he facilitated the sale of components that could be used in semiconductor production. The investigative bureau TriTrace Investigations had previously identified Kirakosyan as a supplier for the Russian company Vacuum.ru JSC.
The case included three procurement episodes: in March 2022, Kirakosyan purchased a Matrix switching module for $2,316, which was then shipped to Russia for $3,290. From March to September 2023, he facilitated the sale of sputtering targets for $1,870, which were subsequently resold to a customer for approximately $3,050. An unsuccessful attempt was made to purchase an LSC-4000 cleaning system, which is used in semiconductor production. For these two successful shipments, Kirakosyan received a total of just over $2,000.
Kirakosyan presented himself to U.S. companies as a buyer from Armenia, concealing the ultimate destination of the goods. The second defendant in the case was the de facto CEO of Vacuum.ru, Sergei Rozanov, who coordinated the purchases and the sanctions-evasion scheme. Other company employees, Yelena Larionova and Konstantin Orlov, were also involved, although they have not yet been charged.
Kirakosyan was arrested in Germany in July 2024 and subsequently extradited to the United States in August 2025, with the assistance of the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs and the FBI's Berlin office. The investigation was conducted by the FBI's counterintelligence task force in San Antonio, in collaboration with the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security.
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