Key facts
- Austria dismantled a scheme supplying sanctioned equipment for Russian cruise missiles and fighter jets.
- A Vienna-based company falsified end-user certificates to bypass EU sanctions.
- The scheme involved a network of shell companies in nine countries, including Turkey, UAE, Hong Kong, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Poland, and Lithuania.
- Equipment was supplied to entities affiliated with the Russian state industrial conglomerate Rostec.
- The 28-year-old Belarusian head of the company was arrested in May.
- Deliveries to Russian arms manufacturers since 2022 totalled €3.3 million.
Austria has dismantled an international network that circumvented EU sanctions to supply Russian cruise missiles and fighter jets, the country's Interior Ministry announced. A Vienna-based shell company falsified end-user certificates to export sanctioned goods, including computer-controlled cutters and specialized metalworking tools, to entities affiliated with the Russian state-owned conglomerate Rostec.
The scheme utilized intermediary countries such as Belarus, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Poland, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Austrian authorities arrested the 28-year-old Belarusian managing director and co-owner of the shell company in May and seized property valued at approximately €140,000. Investigators found evidence indicating that industrial goods worth over €3.3 million had been delivered to Russian arms manufacturers since 2022.
Austria's junior minister for intelligence, Joerg Leichtfried, stated that it is unacceptable for European technology to be channeled into the production of cruise missiles and air defense systems, vowing continued action against those attempting to circumvent legal prohibitions to support the Russian arms industry.