How do you know that the owners were Russian citizens in 2011?
The owners of BTC-e are Alexei and Alexander, who previously worked in ZhK Skolkovo Park, Moscow. Until 2013, some information was available on their identities, but all of that disappeared suddenly that year. We don't even know their surnames. I am also not sure whether they are Russian citizens or not, but since they have worked in the Skolkovo Park, I assume they have / had Russian passports
The "Alexei" in your post could be
this dude
Heck, I confronted him few times here in the past but I never thought that he was (could be) one of the Btc-e owners (leading developers). He is certainly Russian, and what's more his overall attitude seems to be kinda progovernment, pro-Putin (if that means anything). I don't know what's happened to this exchange, but I was really pissed off when they hired a moderator for their chat box who couldn't speak proper Russian. Besides, their introduction of betting didn't resonate quite well with my idea about what a Bitcoin exchange should be busy with or involved in