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Three citizens of the Russian Federation - 36-year-old Zhanna Soldatenkova, 35-year-old Ruslan Almetov and 35-year-old Artur Petrov, who is also a naturalized citizen of Germany, are accused of a bunch of crimes, which can be envied, but it is better not to do it. These are violation of export control regulations, smuggling, electronic fraud and money laundering. Petrov was arrested on August 26, 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the United States. The request explained that Petrov, Soldatenkova and Almetov from February 2022 to August 2023 purchased a large amount of electronics from American firms for the Russian Electrocom VPK LLC, which, as indicated on the company's website, supplies products to military-industrial enterprises. To hide the fact that the shipments were destined for Russia, the smugglers used shell companies registered in third countries.
Artur Petrov was arrested more than a year ago while passing through passport control at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, where he arrived from Germany. In January 2024, the District Court in Larnaca refused to extradite the American side, considering that the request to remove Petrov from the Republic of Cyprus was not sufficiently grounded. Petrov's lawyer filed an appeal, which was denied in April this year. On July 18, the court approved the extradition, after which the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Marios Hartziotis, issued a warrant. On August 8, Petrov arrived in New York under the escort of our marshals, and the next day Federal Magistrate Judge Jennifer Willis in Manhattan familiarized him with the charges and took him into custody, after which he was taken to the Brooklyn federal prison MDC, where he was registered as a "white male of 34 years old" under the number 00021-506. On October 10, Artur Petrov was again taken to Manhattan federal court, where Judge Alvin Hellerstein extended his detention in prison without bail.
Soldatenkova and Almetov are still on the international wanted list, but, as our federal prosecutors like to say, American justice has long arms. As federal Manhattan prosecutor Damian Williams said: "Zhanna Soldatenkova and Ruslan Almetov, along with the previously accused Artur Petrov, are accused of conspiring to smuggle military microelectronics from American distributors of a Russian company that supplies products to the Russian military. Our prosecutor's office is committed to uncovering the full range of such illicit procurement networks and protecting our national security." The charges brought against all three threaten imprisonment for a total term much longer than a human life, but in practice it is reduced to 20 years, and even then if they plead not guilty. In a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York a month ago, it said that "the technology that Petrov and his co-conspirators procured in violation of export controls in collusion has important military applications and includes various types of electronic components that have been found in Russian military equipment on the battlefield in Ukraine, such as Russian guided missiles, drones, and electronic warfare and communications devices".
In the charge previously brought against Petrov, Soldatenkova and Almetov were accomplices of SS-1 and SS-2. For the success of his venture, the prosecution argued, Petrov first bought controlled microelectronics from American exporters through his Cypriot shell company, Astrafteros TechnokosmoIn doing so, he lied to American exporters that Astrafteros was buying goods for fire safety systems and other purely peaceful commercial uses, and that the final recipients and destinations of the electronics would be companies in Cyprus or other third countries, when in fact all this stuff was intended for the Russian company Electrocom, which serves the Russian military-industrial complex. The charge has now been expanded to state that "Petrov, Soldatenkova, and Almetov operated an illegal procurement network in Russia and other countries abroad. In particular, they fraudulently purchased large quantities of microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls from U.S. distributors on behalf of Electrocom. To implement this scheme, they used shell companies and other deceptive means to hide the fact that the electronic components were destined for Russia". As in the first indictment, it is now alleged that all three defendants "purchased from American distributors and sent to Russia controlled electronic components for military purposes worth more than 225 thousand dollars.
Another case involving Russians was reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, whose head, Ismail Ramsey, in an October 3 press release, thanked "all of our private sector partners for their diligence in analyzing, publicizing, and addressing the threat posed by these illegal state-coordinated actions in the Northern District of California throughout the United States and around the world". It was, he said, about "dismantling the infrastructure that cyber spies use to attack American and international targets". A court order issued that day authorized federal investigators to seize 41 Internet domains "used by Russian intelligence officers and their proxies to commit computer fraud and abuse in the United States."
As Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco explained in the same press release, "the Russian government launched this scheme to steal Americans' sensitive information using seemingly legitimate email accounts and trick victims into revealing account details. With the continued support of our private sector partners, we will relentlessly expose Russian actors and cybercriminals and deprive them of the tools of their illicit trade".
The beginning of this revelation can be considered December 13, 2023, when a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted the Russian government for invading the computer systems of the United States, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations. It was about the so-called "Callisto Group", which managed to destroy the security structure of the computers of some NATO countries. In particular, cyber fraudsters stole data that helped them influence the electoral process in England in 2019. In addition to the "Callisto Group", other groups that could have participated in Internet banditry were mentioned in the case, these are "Dancing Salomé" and "Star Blizzard", aka "Cold River (Coldriver)", and the "Callisto Group" itself was identified as an operational link of the FSB Information Security Center, military unit No 64829, located in Moscow on Myasnitskaya Street, house No 6. The officer of this unit, Andrei Stanislavovich Korinets, and Ruslan Al, who is related to it, are involved in the caseEksandrovich Peretyatko. Both are in the Russian Autonomous Republic of Komi and have been declared wanted by our FBI, and a reward has been appointed for information that will help detain them.
It follows from the accusation that cybercriminals created and used fake email accounts that were very difficult to distinguish from real ones. They managed to gain the trust of officials from various countries, manipulate them and mislead them. Russian hackers sent out emails that were allegedly sent by moderators of network service servers, reporting violations of the rules of use. Victims were led to similar accusations by false administrators and voluntarily provided information about their credentials. The prosecution alleges that members of the Callisto Group, among others, attacked companies based in the United States, former employees of the U.S. intelligence community, former and current employees of the Department of Defense and the State Department, U.S. defense contractors, and employees of the Department of Energy.
Artur Petrov was arrested more than a year ago while passing through passport control at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, where he arrived from Germany. In January 2024, the District Court in Larnaca refused to extradite the American side, considering that the request to remove Petrov from the Republic of Cyprus was not sufficiently grounded. Petrov's lawyer filed an appeal, which was denied in April this year. On July 18, the court approved the extradition, after which the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Marios Hartziotis, issued a warrant. On August 8, Petrov arrived in New York under the escort of our marshals, and the next day Federal Magistrate Judge Jennifer Willis in Manhattan familiarized him with the charges and took him into custody, after which he was taken to the Brooklyn federal prison MDC, where he was registered as a "white male of 34 years old" under the number 00021-506. On October 10, Artur Petrov was again taken to Manhattan federal court, where Judge Alvin Hellerstein extended his detention in prison without bail.
Soldatenkova and Almetov are still on the international wanted list, but, as our federal prosecutors like to say, American justice has long arms. As federal Manhattan prosecutor Damian Williams said: "Zhanna Soldatenkova and Ruslan Almetov, along with the previously accused Artur Petrov, are accused of conspiring to smuggle military microelectronics from American distributors of a Russian company that supplies products to the Russian military. Our prosecutor's office is committed to uncovering the full range of such illicit procurement networks and protecting our national security." The charges brought against all three threaten imprisonment for a total term much longer than a human life, but in practice it is reduced to 20 years, and even then if they plead not guilty. In a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York a month ago, it said that "the technology that Petrov and his co-conspirators procured in violation of export controls in collusion has important military applications and includes various types of electronic components that have been found in Russian military equipment on the battlefield in Ukraine, such as Russian guided missiles, drones, and electronic warfare and communications devices".
In the charge previously brought against Petrov, Soldatenkova and Almetov were accomplices of SS-1 and SS-2. For the success of his venture, the prosecution argued, Petrov first bought controlled microelectronics from American exporters through his Cypriot shell company, Astrafteros TechnokosmoIn doing so, he lied to American exporters that Astrafteros was buying goods for fire safety systems and other purely peaceful commercial uses, and that the final recipients and destinations of the electronics would be companies in Cyprus or other third countries, when in fact all this stuff was intended for the Russian company Electrocom, which serves the Russian military-industrial complex. The charge has now been expanded to state that "Petrov, Soldatenkova, and Almetov operated an illegal procurement network in Russia and other countries abroad. In particular, they fraudulently purchased large quantities of microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls from U.S. distributors on behalf of Electrocom. To implement this scheme, they used shell companies and other deceptive means to hide the fact that the electronic components were destined for Russia". As in the first indictment, it is now alleged that all three defendants "purchased from American distributors and sent to Russia controlled electronic components for military purposes worth more than 225 thousand dollars.
Another case involving Russians was reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, whose head, Ismail Ramsey, in an October 3 press release, thanked "all of our private sector partners for their diligence in analyzing, publicizing, and addressing the threat posed by these illegal state-coordinated actions in the Northern District of California throughout the United States and around the world". It was, he said, about "dismantling the infrastructure that cyber spies use to attack American and international targets". A court order issued that day authorized federal investigators to seize 41 Internet domains "used by Russian intelligence officers and their proxies to commit computer fraud and abuse in the United States."
As Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco explained in the same press release, "the Russian government launched this scheme to steal Americans' sensitive information using seemingly legitimate email accounts and trick victims into revealing account details. With the continued support of our private sector partners, we will relentlessly expose Russian actors and cybercriminals and deprive them of the tools of their illicit trade".
The beginning of this revelation can be considered December 13, 2023, when a federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted the Russian government for invading the computer systems of the United States, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations. It was about the so-called "Callisto Group", which managed to destroy the security structure of the computers of some NATO countries. In particular, cyber fraudsters stole data that helped them influence the electoral process in England in 2019. In addition to the "Callisto Group", other groups that could have participated in Internet banditry were mentioned in the case, these are "Dancing Salomé" and "Star Blizzard", aka "Cold River (Coldriver)", and the "Callisto Group" itself was identified as an operational link of the FSB Information Security Center, military unit No 64829, located in Moscow on Myasnitskaya Street, house No 6. The officer of this unit, Andrei Stanislavovich Korinets, and Ruslan Al, who is related to it, are involved in the caseEksandrovich Peretyatko. Both are in the Russian Autonomous Republic of Komi and have been declared wanted by our FBI, and a reward has been appointed for information that will help detain them.
It follows from the accusation that cybercriminals created and used fake email accounts that were very difficult to distinguish from real ones. They managed to gain the trust of officials from various countries, manipulate them and mislead them. Russian hackers sent out emails that were allegedly sent by moderators of network service servers, reporting violations of the rules of use. Victims were led to similar accusations by false administrators and voluntarily provided information about their credentials. The prosecution alleges that members of the Callisto Group, among others, attacked companies based in the United States, former employees of the U.S. intelligence community, former and current employees of the Department of Defense and the State Department, U.S. defense contractors, and employees of the Department of Energy.
