CHEYENNE, Wyoming—A Russian man pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to export military-grade, thermal-imaging rifle sights from the United States without a federal license.
Roman Kvinikadze, 31, of Moscow, entered his plea to the felony charge in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. The federal government restricts export of the sights, which allow a shooter to see a target’s body heat in the dark.
U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson scheduled sentencing for February. Kvinikadze faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Johnson said immigration authorities intend to send Kvinikadze back to Russia.
Prosecutor Bob Murray said his office agreed to drop another charge in a plea agreement. Murray said both the prosecution and defense want Kvinikadze’s sentence capped at the time he’s already served since his June arrest.
Kvinikadze tried to buy the sights from an undercover Homeland Security agent, according to a statement filed in court by a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Denver.
The agent stated that Kvinikadze traveled to Las Vegas last winter, where he attended the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, a trade show for manufacturers of firearms and accessories. There, he and another Russian met with the agent, according to the statement.
The agent said Kvinikadze was interested in thermal sights made by American Technologies Network Corp. The company states on its website that its sights are “ideal for nighttime hunting, force protection, border patrol, police SWAT and special operations.”
The agent said he told Kvinikadze that the sights can’t be exported to Russia.
“Upon hearing this, Kvinikadze stated he did not care how he received the weapon sights, whether with or without the required export paperwork,” the agent wrote. He wrote that Kvinikadze suggested the undercover agent set up another company in a more friendly country such as England and then ship the weapon sights to Russia from that location.
Kvinikadze instructed the agent to send the sights to Prague, Czech Republic, and then to Russia. The agent wrote that Kvinikadze wired $1,000 to an undercover bank account in Cheyenne in April as a good-faith payment.
Kvinikadze flew from Russia to Denver in late June and then traveled to Wyoming to inspect the sights and finalize the purchase. He was arrested in Wyoming.
A federal judge in Pennsylvania early this year sentenced another man to two years in prison following a conviction of conspiring to export military-grade night vision devices. That defendant was convicted of trying to export the same brand of thermal rifle sights that Kvinikadze tried to buy to Belarus, part of the former Soviet Union.
