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US court places Russian national Vadim Konoshchenok in custody

Konoshchenok is charged with smuggling electronics for the Russian military

NEW YORK, July 15. /TASS/. The court in New York’s Brookline ruled during primary hearings that Russian national Vadim Konoshchenok who was extradited earlier to the United States from Estonia, would remain in custody, a source in the Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York told TASS on Friday.

"Vadim Konoshchenok stood trial. He did not plead guilty. He was denied to be released on bail," the source said.

Konoshchenok is charged with smuggling electronics for the Russian military. He may face a prison term of up to 30 years.

In late 2022, the US judicial authorities reported that Alexey Braiman and Vadim Yermolenko had been arrested in the United States and that Vadim Konoshchenok had been detained in Estonia on December 6. According to US investigators, "in electronic communications, Konoshchenok explicitly identified himself as an FSB "Colonel" and enclosed a photograph of himself wearing his FSB uniform." The search of a storage facility registered in the name of Konoshchenok’s son yielded around 170 kilograms of cartridges of various calibers. Yermolenko and Bairamov are said to have smuggled electronics and other equipment into Estonia for Konoshchenok.

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