Austria busts scheme supplying equipment for Russian arms industry

Austrian authorities have dismantled a scheme that supplied equipment for Russia's arms industry, violating European Union sanctions. A Vienna-based company, whose name has not been released, allegedly falsified end-user certificates to provide specialized metalworking tools and CNC machines to Russian manufacturers.

The 28-year-old head of the company, a Belarusian national, was arrested in May. The firm reportedly used a network of shell companies across Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Poland, and Lithuania to conceal its shipments. Equipment worth 140,000 euros was confiscated during the arrest.

Austria's Deputy Interior Minister for Intelligence Affairs, Joerg Leichtfried, stated that the country will "continue to take decisive action against entities attempting to circumvent prohibitions on supplying the Russian arms industry." The company is alleged to have supplied firms linked to the Russian state industrial conglomerate Rostec, with equipment used in the production of military hardware, including cruise missiles and fighter jet engines.

Austrian authorities determined that goods worth over 3.3 million euros were delivered to Russian arms manufacturers since 2022. The Russian embassy in Vienna and Rostec declined to comment on the matter. This incident is one of several recent cases highlighting attempts to circumvent sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.

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and will continue to take decisive action against entities attempting to circumvent prohibitions on supplying the Russian arms industry.