A California man tried to beat a weapons smuggling sentence by donating the evidence to the Russian military. A Moscow court sent him to prison for four years.

A Moscow court sentenced U.S. citizen Robert Mao to four years in prison for weapons smuggling. Court records reviewed by the state news agency TASS say Mao, a California resident, was arrested in late October 2024 at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. He was allegedly attempting to export parts for a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a Saiga carbine while preparing to board a flight to Istanbul. Authorities confiscated the components.

In court, Mao said he traveled to Moscow to participate in a sporting event. While in the city, he decided to purchase accessories for Kalashnikov assault rifles, telling the court that he had legally collected weapons for many years.

Testimony indicates that, before his arrival in Moscow, Mao reached an agreement online to buy rifle stocks for a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a Saiga carbine, paying through a cryptocurrency wallet. He also purchased additional accessories and tuning components at the Zenit store on Novy Arbat in central Moscow. Mao testified that during screening at Vnukovo Airport, he did not try to hide the gun parts but failed to declare them because he was unaware it was required.

Both a district court and an appellate court reviewed Mao’s case, with the latter upholding the verdict. During the appeal, TASS reported, Mao fully admitted guilt and said he had turned over all weapons accessories and tuning components to a military unit involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine — a claim supported by a letter of thanks included in the case file. Despite this, he asked the court to acquit him.

TASS reported that the sentence had entered into force but did not specify when either court heard the case.

Russia and the United States conducted multiple prisoner exchanges in 2025. In February, for example, Russia released American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who had been sentenced to 14 years on drug smuggling charges. In return, the U.S. released Alexander Vinnik, the founder of the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, whom American authorities accused of laundering at least $4 billion.

In April, Russia handed over Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen sentenced to 12 years for treason over a donation to a Ukrainian charity. In exchange, the United States released Artur Petrov, a German and Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at Washington’s request on suspicion of exporting military-grade microelectronics.