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 Latvian State Security Service (VDD) has announced today that on 13 and 14 October it undertook raids at five premises in Riga collecting evidence and seizing over €500,000 in cash.
The investigation relates to alleged breaches of the EU’s sanctions by supplying resources to the Russian military.
The subject(s) of the investigation were not named.
The Dutch authorities have today secured settlement against four companies and eight individuals for breaching the EU’s Russian sanctions concerning Crimea through involvement in the export and machinery used in the construction of the Kerch Bridge.
The eight people were sentenced to community service ranging from 20 to 60 hours while the four companies paid fines totalling €160,000, with profits of €71,000 confiscated from one of the companies.
The case was resolved without a trial. The investigation commenced in 2017 after press reporting, and initially involved investigation into the activities of seven companies.
The names of the companies have not been published.
The Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office has conducted three raids and seized $1.5m in diamonds suspected to have been the result of circumvention of the EU’s Russian sanctions.
A criminal investigation has been launched and a court-appointed expert been put in place.
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.
As part of the ongoing reporting of an investigation into the sale of a tugboat from Finland to Russia in breach of EU sanctions, it was reported today that the Finnish authorities are have been undertaking over 600 investigations into potential sanctions breaches since February 2022.
Sixty of these are said to be “aggravated” indicating that they are of a more serious, or high value, nature.
The Dutch have announced that the Public Prosecution Service is currently undertaking 55 criminal investigations into suspected breaches of Russian and Belarusian sanctions.
Little information on the breaches is available, but the authorities have stated that roughly two thirds relate to breaches of trade sanctions, and one third to financial sanctions.
As of December the number was at 27, meaning 28 have been added during 2023 to date.
It has been reported today that the German authorities have confirmed the commencement of an investigation following press reporting regarding whether German companies which attended a trade fair in Iran had done so in breach of EU sanctions.
It has been reported in a country-specific report on Sweden by the Royal United Services Institute that the Swedish customs authorities charged and prosecuted a company for Russian trade sanctions offences, but were unable to secure a conviction.
No further details were provided.
