Hundreds of Finnish investigations into sanctions violations
Finnish customs inspects thousands of trucks transporting goods across the border to Russia and finds suspected sanctions violations in around a third of them. An investigation reveals how this comes about - and why it is not always easy to classify a breach of sanctions.
Finnish companies are circumventing sanctions against Russia on a large scale, and companies from other countries are also using Helsinki as a transshipment point for exporting sanctioned goods to Russia. This was revealed in an investigation by the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" together with the Finnish broadcaster YLE. According to the report, the company HD-Parts, based in Vantaa, Finland, has exported thousands of spare parts for trucks worth hundreds of thousands of euros to Russia, which are sanctioned by the EU. These are mainly spare parts for Scania and Volvo trucks. Russia is dependent on the supply of spare parts for Western-brand trucks from abroad. Representatives of HD-Parts reject the accusations.
The company does most of its business by exporting to Russia. From 2021 to 2022, it increased its turnover from 5.6 million euros to 8.8 million euros and doubled its profit. According to the investigation, another Finnish company illegally exported trucks to Russia. According to Russian customs data available to the FAZ, sanctioned goods from other companies were also sent to Russia via Helsinki in many thousands of other cases. These included goods from the Estonian company Elmec Trade, which is sanctioned by the USA. It is unclear how the goods came to Russia. They may have gone via third countries.
600 investigations into sanctions crimes
Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said that the Finnish government was aware of sanctions violations and sanctions evasion, according to advance reports from the media houses. Customs and police were investigating sanctions violations. "Customs has initiated more than 600 investigations into sanctions crimes." These are administrative offenses for which a prison sentence of up to four years can currently be imposed. A criminal sanctions directive is currently being prepared at EU level, which would increase the penalty to up to five years. "Preventing the circumvention of sanctions starts at home, in the member states of the European Union," said Valtonen.
Erlend Bjørtvedt, sanctions expert and head of the Norwegian consultancy firm Corisk, described Helsinki as one of the largest transshipment points for sanctioned goods in Northern Europe. According to him, the Finnish company HD-Parts is one of the Western exporters with the highest number of illegal shipments to Russia. Alongside Elmec from Estonia, the company is one of the biggest sanctions-breakers in the West, according to Bjørtvedt.
Transit traffic to other countries still legal
Sami Rakshit, Director of the Enforcement Department of Finnish Customs, told the FAZ that the export of trucks and their parts to Russia is illegal. However, customs cannot open and check all deliveries. According to Rakshit (until the closure of most border crossings to Russia a few days ago), around 100 trucks crossed the Finnish-Russian border every day. Since March 2022, customs have detected around 1,000 suspected sanctions violations in around 3,000 physical checks. One problem is that transit traffic through Russia, for example to Kazakhstan, is still permitted for many products. According to Rakshit, enforcing sanctions is difficult. "If there is a need for supplies, there is always a supplier. It's like drugs," said Rakshit.
Mikael Wigell, sanctions expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), suspected in an interview with the "FAZ" that most of the companies in Europe involved in sanctions violations were founded by Russians or are controlled by Russia. There are several examples of this. "Russia has an illegal network of companies that break sanctions in Europe. The country built up the network after the annexation of Crimea and strengthened it after the start of the war in 2022," says Wigell.
- The EU is closely monitoring Finland's handling of sanctions against Russia due to the high number of suspected violations, particularly in the logistics sector, where thousands of trucks transporting goods across the Finnish-Russian border are inspected annually.
- Despite Finland's efforts to enforce EU sanctions against Russia, the attack on Ukraine has led to an increase in sanctions crimes, with Finland's customs initiating over 600 investigations into such offenses between 2021 and 2022.
- The EU is considering strengthening penalties for sanctions violations, following allegations of Finland serving as a transshipment point for sanctioned goods, including parts for Western trucks, with companies like HD-Parts and Elmec Trade from Estonia accused of involvement in the illegal exports.
Source: www.ntv.de
