Russia purchases weapon technologies from EU worth millions of euros, Bloomberg

Officials associated with the matter assure that EU members are still not doing enough to prevent Russia from acquiring sanctioned technologies for use in weapons.

"Tens of millions of euros of trade in banned sensitive goods continue to originate from the bloc itself, despite multiple rounds of sanctions,," the material states.

It is also emphasized that almost a quarter of the so-called high-priority goods, amounting to 450 million euros, which arrived in Russia in the first nine months of last year, were sent directly from Europe.

Who is helping Russia bypass sanctions

Bloomberg writes that Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, and China remain among the countries involved in bypassing EU sanctions, as well as neighboring states with Russia, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

While data shows that direct official trade between the EU and Russia in sensitive goods has plummeted since the start of the war, exports of these goods from the bloc to third countries have sharply increased to fully fill this gap.

The European Union aims to strengthen control over compliance with sanctions

In recent months, the EU and its allies have focused most of their efforts on ensuring compliance with sanctions on the list of common priority issues.

They cover dozens of details, components, and advanced technologies, such as semiconductors and electronics, which have been found in missiles and other military systems used by Russia against Ukraine, or are necessary for their production.

The bloc's actions to ensure compliance with sanctions have included export restrictions for companies in third countries, as well as diplomatic efforts in these countries to request restrictions on re-exports to Russia.

How goods can still reach Russia Shipments are difficult to trace as they regularly involve networks of multiple sellers, and sometimes resellers, who may purchase old stocks.

However, the EU's internal assessment suggests that some of the trade takes place within the bloc. According to officials, member states responsible for sanction compliance and companies, consciously or unwittingly, are doing too little to stop it.

According to one official, the data also indicates that subsidiaries and subcontractors of some European firms operating abroad are producing goods subject to sanctions and exporting them to Russia.

Russia continues to circumvent sanctions

Recently, Politico reported that despite sanctions on Russian oil, the aggressor country earned 1 billion euros from the purchase of fuel by the European Union in 2023.

Media also reported that the Italian company Beretta still imports firearms into Russia through its subsidiary and the arms baron Mikhail Khubutia's companies.

In Czechia, it was claimed that Russian special services, as before, are active in Europe, helping to bypass European Union sanctions.