Germany detains 5 men accused of illegally exporting goods to Russian defense companies
BERLIN (AP) — German authorities on Monday detained five people accused of being part of a network that illegally exported goods to Russian defense companies after Moscow launched its full-scale defense. invasion of Ukraine.
The arrests took place in Germany’s northern Lübeck and nearby Lauenburg region, federal prosecutors said. The men are all German citizens; Two are also Russian citizens and the other is a Ukrainian citizen. The suspects are suspected of belonging to a criminal organization and violating Germany’s foreign trade and payments law.
In the statement made by prosecutors, it was stated that the searches were carried out at properties elsewhere in the country and the other five suspects have not yet been detained.
Prosecutors said one of the arrested men, a German-Russian identified only as Nikita S. in accordance with German privacy rules, was the owner of a trading company in Lübeck. They claimed that he and other suspects had used the firm to procure goods for Russian industry and export them to Russia at least since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
The men are accused of using at least one fake firm in Lübeck and fake clients inside and outside the European Union, as well as a Russian firm involving Nikita S., to cover up the deals and get around EU sanctions.
Russian government agencies are suspected to be behind the network, and end customers include at least 24 defense companies in Russia, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said investigations so far showed the suspects arranged about 16,000 deliveries to Russia and that the illegal deals were worth at least 30 million euros ($35.5 million). They did not provide detailed information about which goods were sent.
