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ICYMI: HOW Did U.S. Technology End Up in Russian Weapons? (With Contributions From Misses Claw) [1]
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Date: 2022-10-25
Sometimes I run across a story shocking, not for its subject matter, but for its subject matter to have so little amplification. This is one of those stories. Something out of a Tom Clancy novel has been discovered in Ukraine, and it is not getting much play.
x NBC News: Federal prosecutors say sensitive U.S. military technology has been found in Russian weapons systems recovered in Ukraine.
They've charged a group of Russians with illegally purchasing the technology through a network of shell companies and fake documentation. — Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 19, 2022
x The indictment (and our story to come) stems from a FBI New York investigation and a Justice Department Task Force KleptoCapture investigation which also involves illicit sales of Venezuelan oil to a Russian aluminum company controlled by an oligarch and a Chinese oil company. — Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 19, 2022
Well, this is messed up, luckily Twitter has all kinds of participants willing to fill in with theories:
x Venezuelan oil, Russian aluminum, Chinese oil. Anybody asked Mitch? pic.twitter.com/dl7yFOwXkM — Ammo, not a ride🇺🇦🌻 (@JMarkBuc) October 19, 2022
A whole lot of interesting here, including the inexplicable transfer of assets necessary to pull this off. But, weapons are not developed overnight; it would take years of research and development for American technology to end up in the paws of the Bear.
Two Russian nationals were arrested in a scheme to obtain sensitive U.S. military electronics and technology to provide it to the Russian defense sector, prosecutors said Wednesday, noting that some of the items were found on the battlefield in Ukraine. Yury Orekhov and Artem Uss are accused of using false documents and a front company to purchase electronics like advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems and smart munitions. “Some of the same electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine,” prosecutors said. The indictment says Orekhov admitted in electronic communications that he was acting on behalf of a sanctioned Russian oligarch when he facilitated the sale of smuggled oil from Venezuela. A senior U.S. law enforcement official identified the oligarch as Oleg Deripaska, who was indicted last month on U.S. sanctions violations unrelated to the case announced Wednesday.
And when did this start? According to one investigation, 2017. What happened in 2017 in this case had to do with internal systems, but it is all part of a pattern.
But even as the United States was taking actions to blunt MMZ Avangard's business, a publicly traded American technology company, Extreme Networks (EXTR.O), was providing MMZ Avangard with computer networking equipment for its office IT systems, according to emails and other business records seen by Reuters, as well as interviews with people familiar with the matter. In a statement to Reuters, Extreme said that based on information provided by the news agency it believed equipment "may have" been sold to MMZ Avangard using a surrogate buyer. Extreme said the equipment was sold without its knowledge. It added, without providing evidence, that an intermediary in Russia was "complicit" in supplying its products via a front company to "bad actors." Extreme said it is reporting its findings of these potential sales to U.S. authorities. Between 2017 and 2021, MMZ Avangard obtained over half a million dollars' worth of Extreme equipment for its IT systems, according to the business records reviewed by Reuters and the people familiar with the matter. The products included high-speed switches, an essential building block of corporate IT networks, and software. The records also show that the deals went through a seemingly innocuous corporation near Moscow, and despite two Extreme officials raising concerns, the sales went forward.
Now this does not take into account military equipment, but it gives us an idea on when the pilfering of American tech began in earnest, which was 2017.
The U.S. has a mole problem, and it is extensive, and at some point a mass scale of rooting out and indicting, and punishing is going to have to commence in order to put our national security back on stable footing. Our technology ended up in Russian weapons used against our allies. As a thought exercise, I will just leave this here:
A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.
To be continued.
Misses Claw (Me) Contibuted to this story to help ROC, who is not feeling well.
-MC, ROC
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/25/2130914/-So-How-Exactly-Does-U-S-Technology-End-Up-in-Russian-Weapons-With-Contributions-From-Misses-Claw
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