Arms dealer sentenced for exporting American weapons to Russia

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. speaks at a news conference in New York on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Photo: Angelina Katsanis/AP

DOWNTOWN — In federal court in Brooklyn, Kyrgyz national Sergei Zharnovnikov was sentenced to 39 months for conspiracy to export American-made firearms.

The defendant illegally exported firearms and ammunition worth over $1.5 million from the United States to Russia through Kyrgyzstan. Zharnovnikov does not have lawful resident status and faces deportation upon sentencing.

The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Hector Gonzalez.

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr., FBI New York Field Office Acting Assistant Director in Charge Terence G. Reilly and New York Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Carson of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), Office of Export Enforcement, announced the sentence.

“The defendant bought American-made, military-grade firearms and ammunition and re-exported them to Russia — the same brand of firearms and ammunition known to be used in Russia’s war against Ukraine,” stated Nocella.

“His blatant lies directly fueled Russia’s military siege against Ukraine with American-made weapons,” Reilly added.

According to court filings, Zharnovnikov was an arms dealer who operated through a company that he owned, located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Since at least March 2020, he conspired with others to export firearms and ammunition controlled by the DOC from the United States to Russia, routing approximately $1.58 million worth of U.S.-manufactured firearms and ammunition.

In one transaction, Zharnovnikov entered into a five‑year, $900,000 contract with a company in the United States to purchase and export their firearms to Kyrgyzstan.

DOC issued a license for the company to export firearms to Zharnovnikov’s company but prohibited their export or re-export to Russia. Zharnovnikov re-exported them to Russia anyway, including semi‑automatic hybrid rifle-pistols, without a license.

In another transaction, Zharnovnikov re-exported five rifles from a second U.S. Company to Russia, via Kyrgyzstan.

Here, too, the DOC license prohibited the rifles from being re-exported out of Kyrgyzstan. The second company’s rifles are used by Russian military snipers in battalions known to be active in key battles in Ukraine.

Zharnovnikov also conspired to illegally re-export U.S.‑manufactured ammunition from Italy through Kyrgyzstan into Russia, in violation of U.S. law.

Zharnovnikov and his associates placed the order and received 13,000 rounds of ammunition worth $23,000 from a third U.S. company. The license for this ammunition required that it stay in Italy. Zharnovnikov flouted U.S. law and re-exported it to Kyrgyzstan.

The brand has reportedly been used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorney Ellen H. Sise is in charge of the prosecution, along with Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with assistance from Litigation Analyst Rebecca Roth.