General – European Sanctions Enforcement

June 18, 2025June 18, 2025 by Mark Handley

Spain – arrests and detentions for the export of prohibited machinery to Russia

It is being reported that as part of a joint investigation by the General Information Commissariat, the Customs Surveillance Directorate of the Tax Agency, and the National Intelligence Centre that a raid was conducted in 10 June in the town of San Vicente del Raspeig in Alicante and three individuals have been arrested.

Following a hearing on Friday two of the arrested were imprisoned pending investigations and the third individual has been released.

It is alleged that an unnamed company exported machinery “mainly used in mass production industries, such as the automotive metallurgical industry, the aerospace industry, or also in the military industry“. It is alleged that the exports to Russia were conducted through third countries, that customs data was falsified, and that the end customer was a designated person under the EU’s sanctions.

The machinery is reported to have been valued at hundreds of thousands of euros.

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025 by Mark Handley

Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania: investigations opened into funding provided by Russian designated person

Further to our earlier post regarding an investigation in Latvia into the activities of the designated Russian state entity “Pravfond”, it has now been reported that a number of other investigations are ongoing in relation to this entity’s activities:

1) An investigation has been commenced in Sweden in relation to a school that had associations with Pravfond;

2) In Estonia a multiple investigations (by the criminal authorities and the bar association) have been opened in relation to lawyers who accepted funds from Pravfond; and

3) In Lithuania a criminal investigation has been opened (as well as one by the bar association) into lawyers who took funds from Pravfond.

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025 by Mark Handley

Estonia – conviction and 2-year sentence for making economic resources available to a designated person

Further to our earlier post, it has been reported that journalist Svetlana Burtseva has been convicted of breaches of the EU’s sanctions.

The offence was committed by making “economic resources” available to a designated person. The designated person was the sanctioned media outlet Rossiya Segodnya.

The “economic resources” were articles and photos written and taken by the journalist.

Ms Burtseva was sentenced to 2 years in jail for this offence.

Separately the same journalist was also convicted of treason and given a 4-year sentence for the treason offence.

June 3, 2025June 3, 2025 by Mark Handley

Latvia – 61 new criminal prosecutions for sanctions breaches commenced in 2025

In a previous post from April we reported on the 2024 annual report for Latvia’s FIU.

This included the statistic that 392 criminal proceedings had been commenced between 2022 and the end of 2024.

In an interview recently published with Global Investigations Review (behind a paywall), the head of Latvia’s National Customs Board has stated that Latvia has now brought a total of 453 criminal prosecutions.

This indicates that 61 new prosecutions have been brought so far in 2025.

May 28, 2025May 28, 2025 by Mark Handley

Latvia – sanctions investigation launched into activities of Russian state funder

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.

May 27, 2025May 27, 2025 by Mark Handley

Latvia – investigation launched into Russian industrial exports

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.

May 27, 2025May 27, 2025 by Mark Handley

Netherlands – prison sentence for breaching Russian sanctions nearly doubled on appeal

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.

May 13, 2025May 21, 2025 by Mark Handley

Poland – multiple raids and arrests for suspected import of timber in breach of Russia and Belarus sanctions

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.

May 1, 2025May 1, 2025 by Mark Handley

Germany – CJEU decision on sanctions conviction for exporting cash to Russia

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.

April 25, 2025April 25, 2025 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – OLAF and Lithuanian Customs raid company suspected of sanctions breaches

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has issued a press release reporting on a joint operation with Lithuanian Customs.

After a joint investigation officers from both bodies took part in a raid in the Vilnius region.

The investigated conduct is said to involve the shipment of sanctioned goods to Russia through Central Asian countries. According to the Lithuanian Customs press release, the raised company was said to be providing “transport, logistics and forwarding services”.

Sanctioned goods valued at approximately €1.5 million, weapons and cash were seized as part of the raid. Four individuals were arrested as part of the raid.