A National Guardsman, Canyon Anthony Amarys, has been charged with attempting to send photos of sensitive U.S. military technology to Russia, according to federal prosecutors. The 28-year-old from New Mexico was arrested and accused of photographing a U.S. Army installation at Fort Riley, Kansas, and planning to share the images with a Russian intelligence officer. Amarys also allegedly agreed to obtain and send a helicopter radio for use by the Russian military.
He was indicted for attempting to violate the Export Control Reform Act and made his initial court appearance in the District of Kansas. Prosecutors stated that Amarys met with an undercover employee, whom he believed was a Russian intelligence agent, in February at a hotel in Overland Park, Kansas, and signed a one-page agreement confirming a ‘covert relationship’ with a Russian intelligence service. The UCE provided him with thousands of dollars in cash to purchase a Garmin GTR-205 helicopter radio and to photograph a Fort Riley installation.
Amarys allegedly took photographs of what he believed was sensitive U.S. equipment at the installation, which the FBI said was recorded as part of its undercover operation. In March, Amarys allegedly bought the radio, packaged it, and took it to a USPS facility in Junction City, Kansas, intending to mail it to Romania, which investigators say would serve as a cover destination for illegal diversion to Russia. Before shipping, Amarys confirmed in a recorded conversation that he understood the radio would be illegally diverted to Russia and acknowledged having researched export regulations prior to his February meeting.
Investigators later intercepted the parcel and seized the radio before it left the United States. Amarys faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million if convicted.