Russian and German citizen Artur Petrov has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of illegally purchasing large quantities of sensitive US-made microelectronics for a Russian company that supplies it to manufacturers of military equipment.

According to the US Department of Justice, Petrov, 33, who holds dual Russian-German citizenship and lives in Russia and Cyprus, was arrested on 26 August in the Republic of Cyprus at the request of the United States.

According to court documents, together with two other Russians, he fraudulently purchased large quantities of microelectronics for Electrocom VPK LLC, a supplier of critical electronic components for arms manufacturers and other equipment in Russia, from US distributors.

Petrov was charged on several counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, export control violations, smuggling, fraud and money laundering. Each of these charges carries a maximum sentence of five to 20 years.

Prior to that, Swedish prosecutors accused a suspect of espionage against Sweden and the United States in favour of Russia. This suspect was supposedly involved in intelligence activities for nine years.

The Swedish investigation also believes that 60-year-old Sergei Skvortsov, who was detained on suspicion of espionage, organised the supply of sanctioned goods to Russia through Finnish companies.