A Montreal woman has pleaded guilty to sending weapons components to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine

A Russian-Canadian living in Montreal has admitted to sending millions of dollars in electronics to the Kremlin to support its “ongoing attacks on Ukraine,” US authorities said Monday.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said Kristina Puzyreva, 32, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiracy to commit money laundering and could face up to 20 years in prison at a later sentencing.

According to the lawyer, Puzyreva was part of a “sophisticated” export scheme that bought dual-use electronics from American manufacturers under Brooklyn-based front companies and shipped them to Russian companies and companies in violation of US sanctions. These components were then used in unmanned aerial vehicles and guided missile systems used by the Russian military.

“As he admitted today, the defendant was a key part of a scheme to evade sanctions and launder the proceeds of a scheme to ship drones and missile components later found on a battlefield in Ukraine to Russia,” said US Attorney Beibit.

Puzyreva and her husband, Nikolai Goltsev, 37, also of Montreal, were arrested on October 31, 2023, in a Manhattan hotel room. Police seized $20,000 from the room during their arrest and seized $1.68 million in connection with the export scheme.

National security investigations said his money-laundering scheme involved nearly 300 shipments of restricted technology worth $7 million to the Kremlin.

Goltsev and another defendant, 52-year-old Salimjon Nasriddinov of Brooklyn, are still being prosecuted.