The U.S. Department of Justice has released an indictment charging five Russian citizens and two U.S. citizens on 16 counts of conspiring to engage in a massive procurement and money laundering scheme on behalf of the Russian government.. This is stated on the official website of the US Department of Justice..

Among the defendants, in particular, the current officer of the Federal Security Service.

According to the document, the defendants conspired to obtain military-grade and dual-use technology from US companies for the Russian defense sector, and to smuggle sniper rifle ammunition in violation of US sanctions imposed earlier this year..

They illegally bought and exported highly sensitive and highly regulated electronic components, some of which can be used in the development of nuclear and hypersonic weapons, quantum computing and other military equipment..

Among the accused are 44-year-old Evgeny Grinin (Moscow), 57-year-old Alexei Ippolitov (Moscow), 52-year-old Boris Livshits (St. Petersburg), 41-year-old Svetlana Skvortsova (Moscow), 48-year-old Vadim Konoshchenko (St. Petersburg).

If the defendants are found guilty, they face up to 30 years in prison..

Last week, the United States accused Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach of fraud and money laundering..