Germany Arrests Five Suspected of Supplying Russian Firms in Sanctions Breach

Germany Detains Five for Allegedly Breaching Sanctions Against Russia

Germany's Enforcement of Sanctions

BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Germany has detained five people suspected of operating a network that exported goods to Russian defence companies, contravening European Union sanctions imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, federal prosecutors said on Monday.

Details of the Arrests

The Federal Prosecutors' Office estimated the group had arranged 16,000 shipments, worth a combined 30 million euros ($36 million), since February 2022 and that Russian state agencies were suspected of directing the procurement activities.

Prosecutors' Statements

The people were arrested by customs officers in Luebeck, a Baltic Sea port city in northern Germany, and the surrounding Herzogtum Lauenburg district, it said.

Response from Russian Embassy

The suspects — identified as German, Ukrainian and Russian nationals — were apprehended under warrants issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice.

The prosecutors said 24 listed Russian defence firms had allegedly served as end-users.

The Russian embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the prosecutors' accusations.

Searches were conducted at various locations, including Frankfurt am Main, a major financial centre, and the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, and five further suspects remain at large, the prosecutors said.

Finance minister Lars Klingbeil said the arrests were a sign of Germany's resolve in prosecuting embargo breaches.

"Today's operations, ordered by federal prosecutors, show that we rigorously enforce the sanctions we have agreed on the EU level," he said.

One suspect, a German-Russian national, is alleged to have controlled a trading company in Luebeck suspected of being at the centre of the operation. 

Prosecutors says shell companies, fake recipients within and outside the EU and a Russian entity were used to obscure the shipments.

An asset freeze has been ordered against the equivalent value of the transactions, the prosecutors' office said.

($1 = 0.8437 euros)

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle and Ludwig Burger, Editing by Miranda Murray and Timothy Heritage)