It is being reported (behind a paywall) that an individual has been convicted by the Koblenz Regional Court for exporting engines for the “Altius” drones to Russia in breach of EU sanctions.
The 62-year old unidentified individual was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
It has been reported today that the German authorities have arrested a German national on suspicion of exporting dual-use goods to Russia.
The goods were being exported to a Russian arms manufacturer via either Switzerland or Lithuania, and were valued at over 2 million euros, and were being used to manufacture sniper rifles.
The suspect, named as Ulli S, was first arrested in France and then extradited to Germany under a European arrest warrant.
The British authorities today announced the imposition by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of a £1m compound penalty on an unnamed UK company for unlicensed exports to Russia in breach of the UK’s Russian sanctions regulations.
No further information has been released.
Update: as per our post of 28 February 2025, it has now been clarified that this fine was for the provision of “brokering and technical assistance”.
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.
It has been reported today that the Czech authorities are currently investigating the activities of the Czech company Labara. It is suspected that the company has been exporting machinery which can be used for the manufacture of weaponry to Russia via Turkey.
It was reported today, that the Lithuanian State Consumer Rights Protection Authority has undertaken investigations into 95 Lithuanian companies on suspicion of importing Russian timber products in breach of current Russian and Belarusian sanctions.
The allegation is that the goods were being mislabelled as being of Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan origin.
Of those companies investigated nine have now been reported to prosecutors.
It has been announced today that a British company has pleaded guilty to one count of the attempted export of a controlled chemical which is classified as a dual use good.
The company was fined just £600 plus £2,659.5 in costs.
While HMRC did not name the company, it is being reported that the company was VWR International Limited, and that the export was bound for Pakistan.
For an earlier fine imposed on VWR see our previous post.
The UK’s HMRC has today announced compound penalties imposed on four exporters. Two related to military goods and two to dual-use goods.
The exporters were not named.
The penalties imposed were:
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.
