Two Americans were arrested Thursday in relation to an alleged scheme to supply Russia with aviation equipment in violation of U.S. export laws amid the war on Ukraine, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ alleged in a release that two men from Kansas — 59-year-old Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and 55-year-old Douglas Robertson — have conspired to shirk U.S. export laws since 2020 as they sent Western avionics equipment to Russian companies and offered repair services for equipment used in Russian-built aircraft through their Kanrus Trading Company. 

Buyanovsky and Robertson allegedly concealed and misstated where and to whom the equipment and services were being delivered, according to the DOJ.

Days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, the defendants allegedly attempted to send the aviation-related equipment to Russia from the U.S. 

The Department of Commerce informed Buyanovsky and Robertson that they’d need a license to export to Russia, but months later, the pair allegedly shipped the equipment to Russia via Armenia and Cyprus, without a license. 

The two Kansas men are charged with “conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to file electronic export information, and smuggling goods contrary to U.S. law,” according to the DOJ; they face decades in prison if convicted.