Russian intelligence agent set up military exports to Russia in Belgium, avoiding sanctions
Russian intelligence agent set up military exports to Russia in Belgium (photo: Getty Images)
An agent of the GRU (the main intelligence agency of the Russian Federation) was found in Belgium, who had set up military exports to Russia and avoided sanctions, reports The Insider.
As The Insider journalists revealed, the founder of the company that supplies the Russian military-industrial complex with indispensable equipment lives in Brussels and is connected to the GRU.
Viktor Labin was born in 1961. He was registered in the dormitory of the GRU Academy on Narodnogo Opolcheniya Street in Moscow, and later lived in Zelenograd, in a building where some apartments are given to military personnel. No later than 2000, he moved to Brussels.
In Belgium, Labine founded Groupe d'Investissement Financier, a company that supplied goods to Sonatec, among others. Its owner and CEO is Labin's 35-year-old son Ruslan.
According to the publication, in 2022, Sonatec supplied 18 Russian defense companies with equipment manufactured, in particular, in Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
These are coordinate measuring machines, the production of which has not been established in Russia. Therefore, the Russian military-industrial complex is extremely dependent on these supplies.
Labin's comment
"In a letter to The Insider, Labin did not deny that his company is a contractor for 18 companies in the Russian defense sector," the publication reported.
When asked directly whether he and his family members were employees of the Defense Ministry, he replied: "My father is an entrepreneur, and my brother and I did not serve in the army." And he used a smiley face.
At the same time, in response to a question about his relationship with the GRU, Labin said that he could "immediately give a four-letter word" to the journalist of the publication and called him a "Banderite."
13th package of sanctions against Russia
The EU has started discussing a new package of sanctions, which it intends to approve by February 24, 2024.
Possible sanctions were discussed on January 18 at a meeting of the bloc's ambassadors, where member states argued about how best to support Kyiv in the long term.
Politico wrote that Russian aluminum products are among the goods that could be embargoed under the 13th EU sanctions package.
At the same time, the Czech Republic wants to include restrictions on movement in the Schengen area for Russian diplomats in the 13th package of sanctions.
