German companies continue to deliver
Russia imports bulk dual-use goods
02/13/2022, 11:18 am
Strict criteria for the export of dual-use goods to Russia have applied since 2014. In 2020, German companies were still delivering goods there in large numbers, both for civilian and military use. Green politician Wenzel calls for stricter controls in view of the Ukraine crisis.
According to a media report, German companies continued to supply so-called dual-use goods to Russia on a large scale in the years following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. As the “Welt am Sonntag” reports, citing a non-public list by the Federal Ministry of Economics, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) issued 673 permits for the export of goods to Russia in 2020, which could also be used for military purposes. The total value of the goods was therefore almost 366 million euros.
Dual-use goods are goods that can be used for both civil and military purposes. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the EU introduced stricter criteria for exporting such goods to Russia. According to the report, Russia was the fourth largest recipient of such goods from Germany in 2020, after China with 1.6 billion euros, the USA with 1 billion euros and Brazil with 371 million euros.
“Since 2014, dual-use exports to Russia have actually only been possible in exceptional cases,” Bernhard Wegener, law professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, told the newspaper. The Greens member of the Bundestag, Stefan Wenzel, emphasized that BAFA must “closely monitor what happens to dual-use goods”. Military use must be ruled out. “Especially in the currently tense situation with Russia, we have to enforce a restrictive export control policy.”
Due to a massive Russian troop deployment on the Ukrainian border, the West is currently preparing for a Russian invasion of the neighboring country. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. In the same year, an armed conflict between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army began in eastern Ukraine, in which more than 14,000 people have already been killed.