Before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Russian company AGM Systems LLC openly advertised its imports of American-brand light detection and ranging (LiDAR) devices.
LiDAR technology, which uses lasers to create 3D models, has military applications for purposes like battlefield mapping, determining line of sight and the autonomous navigation of military vehicles. The invasion cut AGM Systems off from that American supply chain.
But a Kharon investigation found that the AGM group reworked its supply chains to keep importing American LiDAR through other avenues—long before the U.S. sanctioned AGM Systems for its role in Russia’s “war machine.”
Background: AGM Systems, wholly owned by the Russian national Yuriy Anatolevich Mishchenko, was founded in 2015.
In April 2021, Velodyne Lidar, Inc., a leading American firm in the LiDAR market, announced a “multi-year agreement” with AGM Systems, which it said “provides state-of-the-art hardware and software technology for the collection, processing and analysis of air and mobile mapping data.” The partnership, Velodyne said, meant that AGM Systems would utilize a Velodyne-made LiDAR sensor in its “new AGM-MS3 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) mapping solution.”
Russia’s February 2022 invasion appears to have scrambled the partnership. Trade data reviewed by Kharon shows no shipments from Velodyne to AGM Systems or AGM Trade since.
American and other Western companies were, at that point, decoupling from the Russian economy writ large. Ouster, Inc., another American LiDAR firm that would soon merge with Velodyne, told a Russian media outlet in February 2022 that it had “prohibited the sale and supply of its products to entities in Russia.”
But AGM Systems’ network had been building out other avenues for acquiring foreign LiDAR.
Inside the network: Shortly after the invasion, a senior employee and founder of AGM Systems established a company in Kazakhstan called YVS Systems TOO. It soon helped reroute the AGM group’s flow of American shipments in tandem with AGM Trade OOO, a second company that Mishchenko wholly owns. AGM Trade, founded in 2020, also lists its address in the AGM Systems building.
LiDAR technology, which uses lasers to create 3D models, has military applications for purposes like battlefield mapping, determining line of sight and the autonomous navigation of military vehicles. The invasion cut AGM Systems off from that American supply chain.
But a Kharon investigation found that the AGM group reworked its supply chains to keep importing American LiDAR through other avenues—long before the U.S. sanctioned AGM Systems for its role in Russia’s “war machine.”
Background: AGM Systems, wholly owned by the Russian national Yuriy Anatolevich Mishchenko, was founded in 2015.
In April 2021, Velodyne Lidar, Inc., a leading American firm in the LiDAR market, announced a “multi-year agreement” with AGM Systems, which it said “provides state-of-the-art hardware and software technology for the collection, processing and analysis of air and mobile mapping data.” The partnership, Velodyne said, meant that AGM Systems would utilize a Velodyne-made LiDAR sensor in its “new AGM-MS3 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) mapping solution.”
Russia’s February 2022 invasion appears to have scrambled the partnership. Trade data reviewed by Kharon shows no shipments from Velodyne to AGM Systems or AGM Trade since.
American and other Western companies were, at that point, decoupling from the Russian economy writ large. Ouster, Inc., another American LiDAR firm that would soon merge with Velodyne, told a Russian media outlet in February 2022 that it had “prohibited the sale and supply of its products to entities in Russia.”
But AGM Systems’ network had been building out other avenues for acquiring foreign LiDAR.
Inside the network: Shortly after the invasion, a senior employee and founder of AGM Systems established a company in Kazakhstan called YVS Systems TOO. It soon helped reroute the AGM group’s flow of American shipments in tandem with AGM Trade OOO, a second company that Mishchenko wholly owns. AGM Trade, founded in 2020, also lists its address in the AGM Systems building.
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And while the invasion may have dashed AGM Systems’ U.S. partnership, trade data captures a spate of American-brand LiDAR still flowing into AGM Trade:
AGM Trade imported Velodyne-brand LiDAR from an official distributor of Velodyne in Sweden through November 2022, including four shipments post-invasion.
YVS Systems sent Velodyne-brand LiDAR to AGM Trade between January and July of 2023.
AGM Trade imported Ouster-brand LiDAR in September 2023 from a company in Hong Kong that appears to have no website.
A Velodyne partner in Sweden, a company in Hong Kong and Kazakhstan-based YVS Systems sustained the AGM group’s flow of American LiDAR.
An adapting supply chain: Before and since the invasion, AGM Trade leveraged its network to source non-American LiDAR, too.
In September 2022, the Bulgarian company Skyscan SLLC, whose Russian sole owner shares a surname with AGM’s Mishchenko, sent AGM Trade shipments of various Chinese-made LiDAR. And as recently as 2024, AGM Trade and YVS Systems both have imported LiDAR from China’s Hesai Technology Co., Ltd., the world’s biggest LiDAR maker, which the U.S. Defense Department lists as a Chinese Military Company.
The designation: The Treasury Department sanctioned AGM Systems in October 2024, naming it among 275 individuals and entities “involved in supplying Russia with advanced technology and equipment that it desperately needs to support its war machine.”
Treasury designated AGM Systems specifically for having “operated in the aerospace sector of the Russian Federation economy,” noting that it “manufactures mobile and airborne laser scanners for 3D terrain mapping and aerial photography for use on UAVs.”
The Treasury action did not, however, target Mishchenko, nor the sister company AGM Trade, nor YVS Systems.
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In September 2022, the Bulgarian company Skyscan SLLC, whose Russian sole owner shares a surname with AGM’s Mishchenko, sent AGM Trade shipments of various Chinese-made LiDAR. And as recently as 2024, AGM Trade and YVS Systems both have imported LiDAR from China’s Hesai Technology Co., Ltd., the world’s biggest LiDAR maker, which the U.S. Defense Department lists as a Chinese Military Company.
The designation: The Treasury Department sanctioned AGM Systems in October 2024, naming it among 275 individuals and entities “involved in supplying Russia with advanced technology and equipment that it desperately needs to support its war machine.”
Treasury designated AGM Systems specifically for having “operated in the aerospace sector of the Russian Federation economy,” noting that it “manufactures mobile and airborne laser scanners for 3D terrain mapping and aerial photography for use on UAVs.”
The Treasury action did not, however, target Mishchenko, nor the sister company AGM Trade, nor YVS Systems.
Insights break down a Kharon investigation and why it matters, in 3 minutes or less.
Read more Kharon Insights:
