The Belgian authorities have intercepted a shipment at Liège airport of 33 crates of military goods to be exported to Israel without an appropriate export licence.
The goods were transiting through Belgium having been shipped from the UK.
The goods are stated to have included: “lasers, sights, fire control systems and parts for fighter jets”.
On Friday 3 April, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded and seized control of the sanctioned “shadow fleet” tanker the Flora 1. The vessel is suspected of having caused a 12 km (8 mile) oil spill in the Baltic Sea near the island of Gotland.
The vessel was then anchored off Ystad.
The Coast Guard’s press release states that the vessel’s flag status is uncertain, and states that “this is the first time we have been able to trace a discharge to a vessel subject to sanctions, and which may be suspected of environmental crimes”.
We have updated our vessel seizure tracker.
The vessel has since been released, with the Coast Guard citing a lack of evidence linking the vessel to the oil spill, and that the Coast Guard had been able to confirm the flag status of the vessel.
Further to our earlier post, it is now being reported that the Bulgarian authorities have extradited Russian national Oleg Olshansky to face charges of breaching the US’s Russian sanctions and money laundering.
Mr Olshansky had appealed an earlier decision approving his extradition.
Mr Olshansky and another Russian national extradited from Bulgaria, Mr Sergey Ivin have now been charged by the US authorities.
German Customs has issued a press release announcing raids as part of investigations into the suspected Russian exports by three separate companies. A total of 14 residential and commercial properties were raided in the Rhine-Main area.
The press release states that the investigations first arose out of a routine Customs audit:
“there is a suspicion that two of the companies have commercially exported various machine parts and chemical substances to Russia in violation of an existing ban. To this end, they allegedly used a transport company and other foreign logistics service providers to sell or export sanctioned goods from the Rhine-Main region to the Russian Federation without authorisation by means of so-called circumvention exports via neighbouring states”.
The actions of the third company are not specified.
Sweden’s Public Prosecutor has issued a press release making public raids conducted this morning at the premises of an unnamed “large company” in Sundsvall.
Two unnamed “people in senior positions” have also been arrested on suspicion of aggravated sanctions violations.
The press release does not include information on the suspected breaches.
Given the web links to information on Sweden’s Russian sanctions included in the press release, the investigation is very likely to relate to suspected breaches of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
It is being reported that the Spanish authorities are bringing a criminal prosecution for suspected exports of military aircraft engines to Russia in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
One individual, Olga V, has been in custody since her arrest in 2023. Another individual, Kostiantyn Antonovich Kucher, former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Industrial Policy, is in detention in Azerbaijan pending extradition proceedings to bring him to Spain.
It is alleged that the two, and a network of companies (including Aero Design Systems and Global Force Technology), sought to export aircraft engines to Russia including to the United Aircraft Corporation.
The investigation has included the seizure of three engines by German customs.
It is being reported (originally here behind a paywall, and here) that Portugal’s Tax and Customs Authority currently has ongoing investigations into possible breaches and/or circumvention of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
These appear to be separate from, and additional to, those investigations, as per our earlier post, being conducted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
On Monday the Spanish authorities conducted raids on multiple properties in Mallorca alleged to be owned by or for Nikolai Kolesov, a businessman designated under the EU’s sanctions since December 2024.
Three people have been arrested including a lawyer and someone who stood as proxy as part of the alleged transactions.
The raids were conducted on the homes of those arrested and at the villa properties.
There have been some high-profile examples of this in the last month or so, but the practice can be seen to have started years ago, while the number of examples made it sensible to gather them all in one place.
The vessels are not all oil tankers but also include bulk cargo carriers and container vessels:
26 February 2022 – France seizes the Baltic Leader
20 April 2022 – Greece seizes the Lana
10 January 2025 – Germany seizes the Eventin
17 January 2025 – Finland seizes the Eagle S
14 April 2025 – Estonia seizes the Kiwala
6 October 2025 – France seizes the Boracay
23 December 2025 – Sweden seizes the Adler
2 January 2026 – Finland seizes the Fitburg
19 January 2026 – Italy seizes the Hizir Reis
27 January 2026 – France seizes the Grinch
20 February 2026 – Denmark seizes the Nora
2 March 2026 – Belgium seizes the Ethera
9 March 2026 – Sweden seizes the Caffa
Updates since original post:
16 March 2026 – Sweden seizes the Sea Owl I
23 March 2026 – France seizes the Deyna
3 April 2026 – Sweden seizes the Flora 1
The Latvian authorities have convicted, and fined, an individual and company for sanctioned timber imports from Russia.
The imports were of 50 packages of timber.
The company which procured the import was fined €39,000, and the individual who arranged the imports was fined €14,800. In addition the individual had the proceeds of the sale (€13,935) confiscated as the proceeds of crime.
As separate prosecution has been brought again the customs agent.
