It’s a less complicated story than it probably seems from the headlines.

A 35-year-old Israeli citizen living in the United States was one of seven suspects who has been charged by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) with 16 counts of conspiracy to defraud the US, money laundering on behalf of the Russian government and smuggling ammunition and weapon components to Moscow.

The accused, and his Russian wife, allegedly used an Etsy store with overt sympathy messages for Ukraine… to smuggle American military technology into Russia for killing Ukrainians.

The unassuming couple also outwardly sympathized with Ukraine throughout the 10-month war. Brayman, who lists Kyiv as his hometown on Facebook, shared a video on the site of a Ukrainian dance group…

Here’s the kind of portrait he posted that definitely screams suburban America small craft store owner.

Ok, I’m just going to throw out for the sake of a FSB long-game argument he wasn’t actually born in Ukraine and probably lied to get Israeli citizenship. “Vacation” to Israel may even have been to meet his FSB handlers. Allowing his wife to be Russian in the open would then suggest the FSB were being stingy/lazy.

But what do I know? I’ve really never been into crafting.