It is being reported that the Latvia State Security Service has launched an investigation into the activities of the sanctioned entity “Pravfond”.
Pravfond is said to be a funding conduit by which the Russian state provides support for promoting Russia’s influence and interests abroad. It was designated under the EU’s Russian sanctioned in mid 2023.
The allegation is that it has continued to operate and provide funding despite being subject to the asset freeze.
It is being reported that Latvia’s State Security Service (the VDD) has launched a criminal investigation into alleged exports of sanctioned machinery and equipment from the KLC Group to buyers in Russia via Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The investigation follows the publication of a media investigation by The Insider.
The exports, said to be equipment used for military manufacturing, are said to be valued at $1.3m and to have included products from a number of western manufacturers.
Further to our earlier post that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service had brought an appeal seeking to extend an 18-month prison sentence for exporting sanctioned goods to Russia, the Court of Appeal in The Hague has now issued its judgment.
While most of the judgment relates to the issue of the amount of the “proceeds of crime” to be confiscated from the convicted defendant (reducing the level of confiscation from €72,697.71 to €71,582.95), the custodial sentence was also increased to detention for 1080 days, which is just under the 3 years sought by the Prosecution.
Poland’s National Tax Administration has issued a press release, announcing the seizure of 5 tons of aviation tyres.
The discovery was made through a routine inspection of a truck by the Lublin Customs and Tax office.
The declared goods were automobile tyres. The sender of the tyres was an unnamed company in Spain, and the declared recipient was said to be in Azerbaijan.
The goods were detained and criminal proceedings have been instituted.
German Customs has issued a press release relating to raids conducted in Frankfurt am Main on 13 May 2025.
The raids saw the seizure of 21 luxury cars valued at approximately €1.3m.
The alleged culprit is a 39-year old of Kazakh origin. It is alleged that more than 700 cars have been exported to Russia and Belarus through third countries., valued at c. €25m.
Poland’s National Tax Administration yesterday issued a press release detailing raids and arrests in three provinces.
The three arrested individuals have been charged and are in pre-trial detention. They are suspected of importing birch plywood from Belarus and Russia in breach of EU sanctions.
The Tax Administration has conducted a number of similar investigations in recent months, which have not previously been included in this blog:
24 April 2025 – The Pomeranian branch of Poland’s National Tax Administration has conducted raids in Gdynia. Thirty pallets of timber suspected to have been imported from Belarus and Russia were seized.
9 April 2025 – The Pomeranian branch of Poland’s National Tax Administration has conducted inspections of timber purportedly imported from Tunisia at the Baltic Container Terminal in Gdansk, and seized over PLN 1 million in timber on suspicion that it was imported from Belarus and Russia in breach of EU sanctions.
28 February 2025 – The Lublin branch of the National Tax Administration has seized 1800 pallets of plywood suspected of being imported from Belarus and Russia via China and Kazakhstan. The press release adds that 15 sets of proceedings are being prepared as a result of the seizures valued at PLN 3.2m.
November 2024 – raids were conducted in seven provinces in relation to an ongoing investigation into suspected imports of timber from Belarus and Russia in breach of Eu sanctions.
The UK’s OFSI has announced a £5,000 monetary penalty imposed on Svarog Shipping & Trading Company Limited.
The fine was for failing to respond to an information request from OFSI in breach of regulation 74(1)(a) of the UK’s Russian sanctions regulation.
The Penalty Notice states that the request for information was made in the context of a wider “large and complex investigation into suspected breaches” of the UK’s sanctions in relation to Sovcomflot. That investigation is, presumably, ongoing.
The Court of Justice has issued a preliminary ruling arising from the criminal conviction in Germany of an individual who was stopped at Frankfurt Airport in May 2022 attempting to export €13,800 in cash to Russia.
The individual’s argument was that the funds fell within the “personal use” exception in article 5i(2)(a) of regulation 833/2014, as they were for intended for various medical procedures including dental treatment, fertility treatment and plastic surgery.
The Court of Justice has decided that a “strict interpretation of th[e] exception” was appropriate, that medical treatments do not fall within the exception, and that the exception was for “cash necessary to obtain essential goods and services in order to meet their needs during their travel and stay in Russia”.
The reference to the CJEU was from the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main, which was hearing an appeal from the original conviction.
In an earlier post, we reported on the October 2023 sentence of an individual to 18 months in jail, and a fine of €200,000 imposed on the company operated by the individual.
It is now being reported that an appeal has been brought by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (the “OM”) seeking to increase the sentence.
The OM are seeking a three-year custodial sentence, a five-year ban from the individual acting as a director, and confiscation of €72,697.71 of the proceeds of the sanctions breaches.
It is reported that the appeal is based on the deliberate nature of the offending with the export of sanctioned goods to Russia via third countries including the Maldives and Kazakhstan.
There is no appeal in relation to the fine of €200,000 imposed on Woerd-Tech BV.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has announced that it has charged the Dutch shipbuilding company Damen with an offence under the Dutch Sanctiewet. Other (non-sanctions) offences are also alleged.
The alleged breach of sanctions is said to have taken place in 2022 and to have involved exports to Russia of goods and technology.
The company has issued its own release which states in part:
“With regard to the suspicion of violating the Sanctions Act, Damen can report that it has always acted in accordance with the applicable sanctions packages and that full transparency has been exercised about its activities. Damen is therefore surprised that one case from June 2022 is now being submitted to the court. This is a case involving the supply of a very limited number of civilian cranes to Russia. This delivery took place within the sanctions legislation in force at the time”.
