A Belarusian woman has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in a US federal prison for unlawfully exporting US-origin aircraft components to Russia via Armenia, in breach of US export controls and sanctions. She will be deported to Belarus after completing her sentence.

This is according to an October 28, 2026, statement by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which said that Yana Leonova, 34, had pleaded guilty on May 20, 2026, to violating the US Export Control Reform Act. Also known as Yana Liavonava, she was detained in France in 2024, from where she was extradited to the US in November 2025.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Leonova and co-conspirators in the US and Armenia procured aircraft components from US-based distributors and routed them through Armenia for onward shipment to Russia without the required US Department of Commerce licences, according to court documents and admissions during the plea hearing.

The scheme involved "dozens of aircraft components and payments totalling millions of dollars", the US Attorney's Office said. The equipment was intended for private jets and other aircraft operated or maintained by Leonova's former employer, a company placed on the US Department of Commerce's Entity List for activities deemed contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests.

"Leonova was smuggling US-origin aircraft components to a company ultimately blacklisted by the US government. She used shell companies, false documentation, foreign intermediaries, and overseas bank accounts to conceal the unlawful exports and evade US sanctions," said US Attorney Pirro.

Azerbaijan-based Russian-language news outlet, Haqqin, identifed Leonova's former employer as Moscow-based North-West Technics (also known as Severo-Zapad Technics or NW Technic), where she worked as a logistics technician from 2021. The company and its subsidiaries were sanctioned by the US in December 2023 for illegally procuring equipment for Russian aviation. Leonova previously worked for Kazakhstan's SCAT Airlines, Haqqin said.

The report detailed four aircraft equipment orders she oversaw: Airbus flightdeck windows worth USD58,500; a multiscan weather radar for a Global 6000 worth USD295,000; and two deliveries of A321 fan blades valued at USD197,500 and USD 200,500, respectively. Investigators reportedly traced more than USD2 million in goods exported to Russia through the scheme.