Russia still receives electronics from Germany despite sanctions, - Spiegel
Despite the export ban, Russia receives microelectronics from Germany and uses them to manufacture weapons.
This is stated in the Spiegel article, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
The publication notes that the sanctions circumvention schemes are not too conspiratorial.
One of the firms is Elix-St. GmbH - located in Stuttgart. According to the documents, it produces parts for private use, for cameras, "for smart home modules." As stated in the documents, the customs recognized the cargo as absolutely harmless. However, the buyer was a Russian entrepreneur in Kazakhstan, who founded his company in March, when the first sanctions were imposed.
In the first months, over 800,000 euros worth of goods were sent to Kazakhstan. In the period from 2018 to 2021, the company supplied products directly to Russia. Elix-St. has a subsidiary in Moscow. On the Moscow-based Elix website, they claim connections with the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, with the Sukhoi airline, and several missile manufacturers.
The publication claims that officials in Germany knew about the transactions.
Together with the Norwegian risk analysis company Corisk, the Russian investigative portal iStories and the international research association OCCRP, Spiegel evaluated customs data to identify trade routes from Elix-St. and other suspected embargo violators.
In general, it turned out that in some places we are talking about relatively simple microchips for use in drones, sometimes more complex components that can be used to control cruise missiles. At the same time, it is noted that drones from the Netherlands have apparently entered the Russian army.
It was also reported today that the European Union intends to put an end to schemes to circumvent its sanctions against the Russian Federation.
