NEW YORK: Diplomats have visited Artur Petrov, a Russian national who is in custody in the US on charges of illegally exporting US-made mic...
NEW YORK: Diplomats have visited Artur Petrov, a Russian national who is in custody in the US on charges of illegally exporting US-made microelectronics to Russia, Alexander Zakharov, Russian consul general in New York, told TASS.
Petrov, who was earlier extradited to the US from Cyprus, is being kept at a detention facility in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. "We visited him this morning," Zakharov said. According to the diplomat, the Russian national did not have any complaints regarding detention conditions.
The US authorities will bring formal charges against Petrov no larger than on September 8 but the Russian plans to dispute them, Zakharov noted. "He believes that the charges are politically motivated and far-fetched," the consul general said, adding that Petrov and his lawyer planned to build a line of defense after charges were brought.
The US Department of Justice announced on August 9 that Petrov had been extradited from Cyprus and made his initial appearance in federal court. He faces a total of 11 criminal counts, each carrying a prison term of five to 20 years.
Petrov, 34, was arrested in Cyprus on August 26, 2023, at Washington’s request on charges of illegally exporting US-made microelectronics to Russia. The US Department of Justice alleges that he "participated in an international illicit procurement network," which after the start of Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine "illegally procured large quantities of sensitive microelectronics for a Russian company." The department also claimed that "the transactions and shipments were in contravention of US export controls relating to Russia.".
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