It is being reported that the Bulgarian authorities have approved the extradition of Sergey Ivin who was arrested at Sofia Airport in October 2025.
Extradition has been sought following an indictment that he was involved in the sale of sanctioned metallurgical products between 2017 and 2021 valued at US$350 million.
Mr Ivin has denied the charges.
The same report notes that a second extradition request in the same case, for Oleg Olshansky, is still being considered in the Bulgarian courts.
Following a raid conducted in June 2025, the Belgian authorities have detained Russian national Viktor Labin pending investigation of alleged breaches of Russian sanctions.
It is now being reported that trial in the prosecution is scheduled to begin on 26 February 2026.
It is alleged that he was responsible for exporting machinery and devices for use by the Russian military or in manufacturing.
It is being reported that Sweden’s Security Service, Säpo, conducted an operation in December involving raiding premises in Stockholm and arresting a Russian national for potential extradition to the US to face charges of breaching the US sanctions against Russia.
The Stockholm District Court has ordered the man’s detention pending extradition proceedings.
The alleged conduct is said to have taken place in 2022 and 2023 but no further details are available.
The company that owns the oil tanker ‘Grinch’ has, according to a press release by the Prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône pleaded guilty in a Marseilles court.
It is being reported that the company was fined several million euros.
The vessel has been allowed to leave French waters with its cargo intact.
The offence alleged was failing to provide proof of the ship’s flag status under article L 5233-2 of the French Transport Code.
The State Security Service of Latvia has announced the prosecution of an individual for providing programming services to a Russian company.
This is the fifth recent prosecution in Latvia either in relation to the provision of prohibited services under Regulation 833/2014, or the provision of services to a designated person with the services treated as an “economic resource” that breaches the imposed asset freeze (see October 2025, October 2025, December 2025, and December 2025).
The individual is also being prosecuted on the basis that his salary was paid into Alfa-Bank, which is a designated person under the EU’s sanctions, and that this constitute making funds available to that designated person.
Further to our earlier post, it is being reported that the Estonian-Russian national prosecuted for attempting to export 10,000 rounds of ammunition to Russia hidden in a truck cab has been convicted.
He has been sentenced to 3 years in jail.
The verdict remains subject to appeal.
The UK’s HMRC has issued a press release announcing the conviction and sentencing of Steven Gates for unlicensed exports of eight military-grade rifle sights to a buyer in Hong Kong.
Customs declarations were also falsified to say the sights were camera equipment.
One export was prevented in February 2022 by Border Force staff at Manchester Airport, and another in April 2023.
Searches at his house revealed evidence of another 10 exports.
Mr Gates has been sentenced to jail for 2 years and one month.
Importantly, the press release notes that HMRC is “pursuing 51 criminal investigations in 2024/2025 compared with give in 2021/22”.
It is being reported, following a Freedom of Information request to HM Treasury, that the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has between 1 and 5 investigations ongoing in relation to possible breaches of the asset freezes imposed by the UK’s Cyber sanctions regime.
The breaches are all said to relate to the financial services sector, but no further information was released so as to not prejudice ongoing or future investigations.
The report notes that an earlier Freedom of Information request was refused but an internal review lead to the release.
It is being reported that the Czech police are investigating a potential breach by Ramzan Kadyrov of the asset freeze imposed on him since his 2014 designation under the EU’s Russian sanctions.
It is alleged that a valuable thoroughbred horse was taken from Czechia, although the current whereabouts of the horse are unknown.
The owner had previously claimed that the horse had been stolen.
The investigation has involved support from authorities in Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, and France.
Further to our earlier post from 2024, the Leipzig Public Prosecutor’s office has arrested Jörg Dornau, who is a member of state parliament, on suspicion of breaching the EU’s sanctions against Belarus.
The previous obstacle to his prosecution, parliamentary immunity, has been lifted.
It is alleged that he falsified a customs declaration in 2022 indicating Kazakhstan was the destination of the export of a telehandler vehicle, when the real destination was a company in Belarus.
