It is being reported that Latvia’s State Security Service conducted a number of raids, and arrested an individual suspected of breaching the EU’s sanctions against Russia.
It is being reported that the individual is Viktors Guščins, who is alleged to have provided an economic resource to a designated person in the form of publications and propaganda material.
After a six-week trial, verdict in the Lafarge prosecution is now expected on 13 April 2026.
The Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a fine of €1.125 million, as well as a fine of €4.57 million that is directly related to the alleged breaches of EU sanctions.
The prosecution is also seeking lengthy jail terms for the eight individual defendants of between 18 months and 8 years, including 6 years for the former CEO, as well as a €225,000 fine and a 10-year ban on serving in any management position in a company.
The Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation has published a report on its first year of operations.
In relation to enforcement it says that it has “a number of investigations underway”, and that it has “referred a significant number of cases to HMRC and other government partners”.
No other information is provided, although further information is promised in the 2026 Annual Report.
It is being reported in an article published in trans.info that the German authorities currently have approximately 6000 criminal proceedings for sanctions offences that are ongoing.
This number is said to be specific to the EU’s Russian and Belarusian sanctions regimes.
No further information is provided on the status of the cases.
Latvia’s VDD has asked the Prosecution Office to commence a prosecution of a latvian national for providing prohibited services to companies in Russia.
As per the press release: “DD found that the Latvian citizen had entered into employment contracts with multiple companies registered in Russia, where the person held the positions of general director and director and directly gave prohibited consultations on economic activities, management and taxation”.
This prosecution is one of several recently launched in Latvia (see our earlier post) in relation to alleged breaches of the prohibitions contained in regulation 5n of 833/2014.
The UK’s Gambling Commission has fined Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited, trading as Betfred £825,000.
While much of the fine relates to player welfare and AML issues, it is being reported that part of the fine relates to the lack of an “effective policy for identifying and handling customers who might be subject to financial sanctions”.
This is not the first fine by the Gambling Commission related to sanctions compliance, as two other operators were fined in April 2024.
it is now being reported that the raids conducted by FIOD earlier this week (see our earlier post) relate to a new and further investigation into alleged Russian sanctions breaches by Damen Shipping, and that the raids included searches conducted at the home of the former Damen CEO.
This new investigation is said to be unrelated to the ongoing trial in which Damen is being prosecuted for alleged Russian sanctions breaches.
The Dutch FIOD has issued a press release announcing raids on business and residential premises and the arrest of two individuals aged 39 and 60.
A company, and the two individuals, are suspected of exporting sanctioned goods to Russia via third countries in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
Further to our earlier post, it is now being reported that the Finnish authorities have charged the two remaining defendants (the first having plead guilty) on suspicion of exports to Russia of dual-use drones, laptops, computer processors, smartphones and laser rangefinders in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The value of the exports is said to have been around €140,000, with the exports said to have taken place between 2022 and 2024.
German Customs has issued a press release relating to an ongoing investigation against five defendants. On 29 November three properties were raids in Oelde, and two individuals were arrested.
The investigation by the Essen Customs office, relates to the export since January 2023 of technical equipment and accessories, such as pumps, valves, filters to a company in Russia.
It is suspected that 53 shipments may have taken place via third countries.
The investigation has also frozen assets valued at €689,000.
