manager in custody
German company is said to have sold drone parts to Russia
8/29/2023 1:32 p.m
The Russian military uses the Orlan 10 drone for reconnaissance in Ukraine. A German company is said to have procured components for this. The company’s CEO is now in custody.
The federal prosecutor is investigating a German-Russian businessman who is said to have supplied electronic components for drones to Russia. The man is in custody, the authority in Karlsruhe announced. He is accused of repeatedly violating the Foreign Trade Act. As managing director of two companies in Saarland, he is said to have given electronic components to a Russian company that produces military material and accessories in 26 cases.
This includes the Orlan 10 reconnaissance drone deployed by Russian forces in Ukraine. The components delivered between January 2020 and March 2023 worth more than 700,000 euros are subject to the Russia Embargo Ordinance, as the supreme German prosecutor explained. In order to avoid the sanctions, the German-Russian first imported the goods from abroad to Germany and then brought them to Russia via a company in Baden-Württemberg. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the components have also reached Russia via Dubai and Lithuania.
According to an arrest warrant from the district court in Mannheim, the man has been in custody since mid-March; A little later, the investigation was taken over by the federal prosecutor’s office because of the special importance of the case. This in turn obtained an arrest warrant on Monday.
The federal prosecutor’s office announced the arrest of a German entrepreneur last week. The managing director of a company in Baden-Württemberg is accused of selling machine tools for the manufacture of sniper rifles to Russia. The man is said to have sold six special machines to a Russian arms manufacturer in 2015. In doing so, he violated EU economic sanctions, the authority said.