Russian arms manufacturer sold machines – indictment
Published: Monday, Nov 13th 2023, 15:40
Updated At: Monday, Nov 13th 2023, 15:43
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The managing director of a company from Baden-Württemberg has been charged with selling machines for the series production of sniper rifles to a Russian weapons manufacturer despite trade restrictions.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, the German is accused of several violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act. The State Security Senate of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart must now decide whether to admit the charges and schedule a trial.
According to the report, the accused ran 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 (around 1.9 million Swiss francs). 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 (around 21,200 Swiss francs) and imported them to Germany. The defendant 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.
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