Germany: A businessman and his partner with ties to Russia were sentenced to prison
The Higher Regional Court in the German city of Stuttgart has sentenced a German-Russian businessman to six years and nine months in prison for the illegal delivery of drone components to Russia.
His partner, who is also German-Russian, was also given a one-year and nine-month suspended sentence, according to Wednesday’s verdict.
According to the court in a statement published on its website, the man, whose identity hasn’t been revealed, circumvented several European sanctions imposed on Moscow by selling and delivering more than 120,000 electronic parts between 2020 and May 2023 to Russian companies linked to the production of military equipment and accessories.
The statement confirmed that the 59-year-old man was convicted of 54 violations of the Foreign Trade Law, while the woman was convicted of complicity in 14 cases.
Some of the supplied components are used in the manufacture of Orlan-10 reconnaissance drones, which were used by the Russian military in the war on Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022.
The components were sold in part through a company in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany, officially run by his partner, but in fact owned by him.
After the war began in Ukraine and sanctions on trade with Russia tightened, Moscow changed its strategy by passing its components through third countries.
The convict earned about 875,000 Euros from these prohibited deals.
The man, who was arrested on March 2023 and has been in pre-trial detention ever since, partially admitted the facts.
Germany, in coordination with other EU member states, imposed economic sanctions on Russia in 2014, since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, banning, among other things, the sale of products that could be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Many businessmen have been exposed in recent years in this country for allegedly illegal trade with Russia.
On August, 2023, a German-Russian suspect was arrested on charges of trafficking in electronic components also used in the manufacture of Orlan 10 drones.
A German contractor was jailed the same month on suspicion of selling machines used to produce sniper rifles by a Russian company.
