It was reported today that the German authorities have conducted searches at six premises and arrested a man on suspicion of illegally exporting drone parts valued at €2.1m in breach of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
The exports are alleged to have been routed through Hong Kong as a means of attempting the circumvention of the sanctions.
It was reported today that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is seeking the conviction of an individual, Dmitri K, for the export of microchips and drones to Russia and for falsifying export documents.
The prosecution is seeking 3 years in jail and a fine of €350,000. The man is being tried in absentia having left Holland and travelled to Russia.
The Bulgarian authorities have charged five individuals on suspicion of exporting military goods to Russia valued at more than €2 million in breach of the EU’s sanctions.
The goods are said to be optical sights, binoculars, aeronautical radio communication systems, ballistic calculators and software.
In total 12 people were arrested, but so far only 5 have been charged.
The Dutch authorities have announced the arrest of a 41-year old man on suspicion of exporting microchips indirectly to Russia through third countries in circumvention of the EU’s sanctions.
The products are computer parts and were exported through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Turkey and the UAE.
Residential and business premises were searched in Moerdijk as part of the investigation.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has issued a press release relating to charges against Vadim Konoshchenok, who was arrested in Estonia and extradited to the US.
Konoshchenok is charged with exporting US-made goods to Russia.
According to the release, Konoshchenok was arrested in Estonia in December 2022 attempting to smuggle into Russia 35 different electronic components including US-made controlled products.
Earlier efforts to export ammunition to Russia had resulted in the seizure of half a ton of material.
The Public Prosecutor in Munich has today announced the prosecution of four unnamed individuals in relation to the unlicensed exports of surveillance software to Turkey.
The alleged exporting company is the FinFisher Group. It is alleged that export documents were falsified to mask the destination of the goods.
The investigation has included cooperation with Sweden, Cyprus, Malaysia, Bulgaria and Romania.
It has been reported today that the Greek authorities have arrested a Bulgarian national for the purposes of extraditing them to the US on suspicion of breaching US sanctions against Russia.
The exports are said to have been of microchips and one tranche alone to have been valued at $1.7 million.
The name of the individual and the company he traded through have not been released.
Latvia’s Intelligence Services (the VDD) have arrested a Latvian national, reported as Marat Kasem.
The alleged offence is the provision of “economic resources” to a designated person, or an asset owned or controlled by such a person.
The designated person is Dmitry Kiselev, who is the Director General of Rossiya Segodnya which in turn owns a number of broadcast channels including Sputnik and Baltnews.
Mr Kasem is alleged to have provided the “economic resources” by way of being employed by these channels in Lithuania.
It was reported today that the Paris Court has dropped charges against Nexa Technologies, and four of its management, in relation to the sales of surveillance equipment to Egypt.
We had earlier reported on the commencement of the investigation.
Further to our earlier post, a former university professor in Norway has been convicted of breaching Norway’s Iran sanctions.
The man has been sentenced to 8 months in jail.
The conviction relates to sharing technology without a licence with Iranians.
