Components for Russian weapons?: German company searched

Because of the possible violation of EU sanctions, the Cologne public prosecutor’s office searched a company in Kerpen. She stands loud monitor-Information suspected of having sold electronic components to Russia via Turkey.

The Cologne public prosecutor’s office has been searching the business premises of three companies in the Rhein-Erft district (Kerpen and Hürth) and the homes of three suspects since the early hours of the morning. This was confirmed by the Cologne public prosecutor’s office to the ARD magazine monitorwhich published background information about the case in the morning.

According to the Cologne public prosecutor’s office, the subject of the investigations, which have been ongoing since January, are business relationships between a company based in Kerpen and a company based in Turkey, which justify the suspicion of circumventing EU economic sanctions against Russia. It is about the sale, export and delivery of goods from the IT and electrical sectors with a volume of 15.5 million US dollars.

The Kerpen company is after monitor-Information about Smart Impex GmbH, which is suspected of having sold electronic components to Russia via a company in Turkey, which can also be used for military purposes. Such components have also been found in the remains of Russian missiles studied in Ukraine.

The Russian recipient company is “Fast Impex” in Moscow. Their co-founder Jaroslaw Z. is also one of the shareholders of the German Smart Impex GmbH.

Sale via company in Turkey

Components like those sold by the German company, which can also be used in computers, for example, apparently play an important role for the Russian military. Such electronic components “are at the heart of Russian weapons,” says James Byrne of the British think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The research institute specializes in security and defense.

After the beginning of the war, the German company stopped selling these components and business went down monitor-Research continues. However, the same goods came from Turkey – from AZU International, a company based in Istanbul.

The company was founded just a few weeks after the start of the war by Göktürk A., who is also the managing director and shareholder of the German Smart Impex GmbH. Last year, the Turkish company sold more than $20 million worth of electronic components to Moscow.

On written monitorrequest, Smart Impex writes: “We are currently leaving the allegations […] check carefully. [..] The tests carried out so far show that the goods we have sold were not/are not subject to sanctions.”