Montreal Man Sentenced to 40 Months for Russian Weapons Export Scheme

Nikolay Goltsev, a 38-year-old from Montreal, was sentenced to 40 months in a U.S. federal prison on January 8, 2025, for running a multimillion-dollar Brooklyn pipeline that funneled U.S.-made electronics to Russian military end users. Goltsev, who is Canadian, used two Brooklyn companies, SH Brothers Inc. and SN Electronics Inc., to ship dual-use electronics to sanctioned Russian buyers, often through intermediary front companies in Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Some of the same components later turned up in seized Russian weapons platforms recovered in Ukraine, the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department’s announcement frames the case as part of a deliberate U.S. effort to choke off Russia’s access to American technology. Goltsev ran the Brooklyn operation with his wife, Kristina Puzyreva, who was sentenced in July 2024 to 24 months in prison for laundering the proceeds, and with a third co-defendant, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, a Brooklyn resident and dual citizen of Russia and Tajikistan, who pleaded guilty on July 9, 2024 and is awaiting sentencing.

A Multimillion-Dollar Pipeline Through Brooklyn

Nikolay Goltsev ran SH Brothers Inc. and SN Electronics Inc., two companies registered in Brooklyn, that anchored a global procurement network on behalf of sanctioned Russian buyers. According to the Goltsev sentencing press release and full case details, Goltsev purchased dual-use electronics from U.S. manufacturers and distributors under those two corporate names, then arranged for the items to ship first to various Brooklyn locations. From Brooklyn, the co-conspirators routed the shipments through intermediary front companies in Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates before they ended up in Russia. Goltsev typically communicated with U.S. manufacturers using aliases like “Nick Stevens” or “Gio Ross,” federal charging documents say.

During the period charged in the indictment, SH Brothers alone made hundreds of shipments valued at over $7 million to Russia, according to the Justice Department. The Department of Commerce classified many of those components as “of the highest concern” because of their critical role in advanced Russian precision-guided weapons systems, Russia’s lack of domestic production, and the small set of global manufacturers who make them. Some of the parts, the Justice Department said, were “critical to Russia’s precision-guided weapons systems being used against Ukraine.”

The government’s case ties Goltsev to Russian end users in the defense and technology sectors, who placed orders for specific U.S.-made parts and routed the requests through Goltsev’s Brooklyn front. Court documents show Goltsev walked co-defendants through the fine points of evading U.S. export rules. “Write something more substantial [to the U.S. company] so that there are no more questions,” Goltsev wrote to a co-defendant in February 2023, according to the Justice Department. When the co-defendant asked whether to use “a Chinese end user” as the cover, Goltsev replied, “yes should be ok.”

• 40 months: U.S. federal prison sentence for Nikolay Goltsev
• $7 million+: total value of SH Brothers shipments to Russia
• 5: intermediary countries used to reroute goods
• $1.68 million: total government seizure in the case
• July 9, 2024: guilty plea date

The Russian Weapons Built Around Brooklyn Components

Ukrainian investigators have pulled SH Brothers’ electronics out of Russian weapons recovered from the battlefield, federal prosecutors say. The Justice Department and the Bureau of Industry and Security matched the make, model, and part number of components shipped through the Brooklyn pipeline to gear recovered in Ukraine, according to the original Brooklyn indictment and seized weapons list. The list of identified platforms spans reconnaissance, electronic warfare, guided missiles, helicopters, drones, and tanks.

The matching was specific enough to identify the Torn-MDM radio reconnaissance complex, the RB-301B “Borisoglebsk-2” electronic warfare complex, the Izdeliye 305E light multi-purpose guided missile, and the Vitebsk L370 airborne counter missile system, federal charging documents say. The same documents name Ka-52 helicopters, Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles, and T-72B3 battle tanks as platforms where matching components were found. The Bureau of Industry and Security’s October 2023 indictment called many of those parts “of the highest concern” to U.S. national security. The components’ military criticality, Russia’s lack of domestic production, and the limited number of global manufacturers all factored into that classification.

Some of the components, the Justice Department said, were “critical to Russia’s precision-guided weapons systems being used against Ukraine.” That language echoes the broader U.S. argument that even small electronic parts can shape what Russian forces can field on the battlefield. Federal prosecutors also said some of the integrated circuits shipped through SH Brothers were used in signal intelligence equipment recovered in Ukraine.

The two Brooklyn companies were at the center of the network, but they were not the only names Goltsev used to keep goods moving. Court filings describe multiple shell and intermediary accounts set up to keep shipments under the radar. In a text message exchange on or about January 13, 2023, Goltsev complained to his wife, Kristina Puzyreva, that a subordinate had “asked me to make 80 accounts … I am making accounts for 3 mln [i.e., million]. Fingers hurting already from the laptop.” Puzyreva, also charged in the case, replied: “Lot of money? We will get rich.”

• Torn-MDM radio reconnaissance complex
• RB-301B “Borisoglebsk-2” electronic warfare complex
• Izdeliye 305E light multi-purpose guided missile
• Vitebsk L370 airborne counter missile system
• Ka-52 helicopters
• Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
• T-72B3 battle tanks

Text Messages and Aliases That Proved the Scheme’s Intent

The federal case against Goltsev leaned heavily on text messages that prosecutors say show the defendants knew exactly what the electronics were for. In a May 30, 2023 exchange between Goltsev and Puzyreva, the couple discussed a drone attack on Moscow and Russia’s broader war against Ukraine. Puzyreva wrote: “what is Putin waiting for. He needs to destroy Ukraine.” Goltsev replied: “yeah they’re gonna get f—ed either way.” Puzyreva added: “He needs to put fear into them. Those losers.” The Justice Department quoted the messages in its sentencing announcement to show the defendants’ state of mind.

The messages went beyond operational logistics. On February 23, 2023, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov marked a Russian holiday celebrating those who served in the armed forces with a text to Goltsev. Goltsev replied, “happy holiday to you too my friend, we are defending it in the way that we can [smile emoji].” The Bureau of Industry and Security’s original indictment laid out the exchange to show Goltsev understood the destination of the goods. The same filings quote Goltsev, in November 2022, worrying that “large packages will be dangerous” and that the operation needed to “diversify the load” across multiple U.S. companies.

Happy Defender of the Fatherland.

The line is from a February 23, 2023 text Salimdzhon Nasriddinov sent to Goltsev, marking a Russian armed forces holiday. The Bureau of Industry and Security’s October 2023 indictment used the same exchange to argue that the defendants saw themselves as part of Russia’s wartime logistics chain.

The Other Two Defendants in the Same Scheme

Goltsev’s January 8 sentence came with one year of supervised release and roughly $1.68 million in forfeitures, the Justice Department said. That total includes $20,000 in cash that federal agents seized from the Manhattan hotel room where Goltsev was arrested in October 2023. Goltsev pleaded guilty on July 9, 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit export control violations, a charge carrying a maximum 20-year penalty. The 40-month term reflects the cooperation level, the scale of the shipments, and the role the judge assigned to Goltsev in the conspiracy. Federal investigators say Goltsev coordinated the export of over 300 shipments to sanctioned Russian military-end users.

Goltsev’s wife, Kristina Puzyreva, was sentenced on July 24, 2024 to 24 months in prison for conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the export scheme, the Justice Department said. Puzyreva, who operated numerous bank accounts and conducted financial transactions in furtherance of the scheme, is now serving her term. A third defendant, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, a Brooklyn resident and dual citizen of Russia and Tajikistan, pleaded guilty alongside Goltsev on July 9, 2024 and is still awaiting sentencing.

The Bureau of Industry and Security followed the criminal case with a separate administrative action on December 17, 2025. The Commerce Department published an order in the Federal Register, the December 2025 federal order denying Goltsev’s export privileges. The order, which cites the January 8, 2025 conviction under 50 U.S.C. § 4819, lists the 40-month sentence and the one year of supervised release to justify the ban. The denial order is a permanent addition to Goltsev’s record and prevents him from participating in any transaction subject to U.S. export regulations.

How Federal Officials Link the Case to a Wider Strategy

Goltsev’s case was investigated by the Bureau of Industry and Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the FBI, with help from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. The investigation was coordinated through the Disruptive Technology Strike Force, a joint Justice and Commerce effort, and Task Force KleptoCapture, the Justice Department’s Russia-focused sanctions enforcement group. The two task forces were set up after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce the sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that followed.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who was in office at the time of the January 8, 2025 sentencing, framed the case as part of a broader push. “Today, Nikolay Goltsev joins the growing list of defendants held accountable for unlawfully procuring and profiting from the sale of U.S. technology to further Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine,” Garland said. The Justice Department said the prosecution sends a message that violations of U.S. export controls to feed Russia’s war effort will be met with criminal cases in U.S. courtrooms. The list of “growing” defendants in the press release, like the case itself, signals a federal campaign model, with new cases stacking up against Russian procurement networks.

Russia cannot effectively manufacture advanced weapons without U.S. technology.

The line is from U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, in the Justice Department’s January 8, 2025 announcement of the sentence. The same framing has appeared in other DOJ announcements of export control cases tied to Russia. Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Kevin J. Kurland of the Department of Commerce struck a sharper tone on the defendants’ motives in the same announcement.

“Goltsev and his wife thought they would ‘get rich’ by running an illicit global procurement scheme to supply sanctioned end users in Russia,” Kurland said. “Instead, they got jail time.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, in his statement on the sentencing, said the FBI is committed to investigating and disrupting networks that provide aid to U.S. adversaries. The Goltsev sentence is one of the worked examples the Department of Justice will keep citing as long as Russia’s war in Ukraine keeps driving demand for restricted U.S. components.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The figures and details reported reflect the public record as of the time of publication. Readers with legal questions should consult a qualified attorney.