Prosecutors allege National Guard member Canyon Anthony Amarys tried to send a military helicopter radio abroad for use by Russian intelligence. (Wyandotte County Detention Center)

A National Guard member from New Mexico is accused of illegally trying to provide U.S. military equipment to Russia, according to the Justice Department.

Canyon Anthony Amarys, 28, of Alamogordo, N.M., was indicted on a charge of attempting to violate the Export Control Reform Act and was slated to make an initial appearance Thursday in federal court in Kansas, a DOJ statement the same day said.

Prosecutors say he entered into a relationship with someone he thought was a Russian intelligence agent.

As part of the relationship, Amarys agreed to take pictures at Fort Riley, Kan., and obtain a helicopter radio for use by the Russian military, the statement said.

The Justice Department did not list Amarys’ rank or say in which state’s National Guard he was serving.

In March, he traveled to Kansas to get the radio for export to a purported recipient in Romania, the DOJ said. Amarys acknowledged knowing that it would be illegally diverted to Russia, the statement said.

Investigators recovered the radio, which cannot be lawfully exported without a license from the Commerce Department, according to the statement.

Amarys told the person he thought was a Russian intelligence agent that he had researched export regulations ahead of their meeting in February and knew that sending the radio abroad would be illegal, the statement said.