Russian arms manufacturer sold machines: Indictment
Because he sold a Russian weapons manufacturer machines for the series production of sniper rifles despite trade restrictions, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office wants to put the managing director of a company from Baden-Württemberg on trial. According to information from Monday, the Karlsruhe authorities charged the German with several violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act before the State Security Senate of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court. The court must decide whether to admit the charges and schedule a trial.
The accused managed a company for the production and trade of modern machine tools and had long-standing business relationships with Russian arms manufacturers. Although the EU imposed extensive trade restrictions in 2014 due to the Russian annexation of Crimea, the man reportedly concluded three contracts with the Russian weapons manufacturer in spring 2015 for the delivery of a total of six machine tools including accessories with a total value of around two million euros. One contract also included the installation of the machines and the training of employees. The man is said to have concealed the transactions with the help of other companies he had founded. The deliveries were also made via third-party companies in Switzerland and Lithuania.
Again, the man bought four sniper rifles from the Russian business partner via his company for test purposes at a price of 22,000 euros and imported them to Germany. The accused had postdated the purchase contract by one year to make it appear as if the contract had been concluded before the embargo.
The managing director was arrested in France on August 10 of this year on the basis of a European arrest warrant. He is now in custody in Germany.
- Despite the European Union's trade restrictions imposed in 2014 due to the annexation of Crimea, the man continued to engage in foreign trade, secretly concluding several contracts with a Russian weapons manufacturer for the delivery of machine tools used in the production of sniper rifles.
- The accused's involvement in foreign trade extended beyond just machine tools, as he also illegally imported four sniper rifles from the Russian business partner for test purposes, falsifying the purchase contract to evade the embargo on weapons sales.
Source: www.dpa.com
