German Customs is allowing lubricants to enter Russia that are banned by EU sanctions. This was reported by The Insider on Monday, 5 August.
According to the publication, since the beginning of the year, Russia has received more than 60 tonnes of lubricants under codes 340319 and 340399. The supplier was VIP Resource Limited, a Hong Kong-based company. The place of shipment was Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein). The recipient was Amertend LLC in Yekaterinburg, a company that sells solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and lubricants.
At the same time, according to The Insider, VIP Resource Limited was registered to Maksym Kryvoruchenko, registered in Zaporizhzhia. The publication did not rule out the possibility that it was a straw man. The director of the company, according to The Insider, is also a citizen of Ukraine.
According to the publication, the products included Divinol lubricant, produced by the German plant Zeller+Gmelin. It is used on DMG machines used in the Russian military-industrial complex.
According to The Insider, Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical lubricants were also imported. The products of the Swiss company Blaser Swisslube, which also makes special lubricants for machine tools, were also imported from Lübeck.
The press service of the customs office responded to DW's request that they could not comment on the situation "with individual companies or specific cases."
Earlier, on 27 April, The Insider reported that Russian companies import tantalum capacitors used for the production of missiles and drones through a number of countries, including Ukraine's allies.
Among the missile and drone parts identified are capacitors made by Kyocera AVX, Vishay and KEMET Corporation. All of these companies are headquartered in the United States, but their products continue to flow to Russia through a network of resellers, the journalists found out.
Background. As reported, Estonia will tighten control of cargo at the border with Russia to prevent the circumvention of sanctions – the country will introduce a full inspection of cargo and vehicles.