dBSPL
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2018
- Messages
- 7,661
- Reaction score
- 28
- Country
- Location
While Germany imposes a strict embargo for example one of its NATO partners and stop theirs some of most important defense projects; It was the biggest supporter of China and Russia on machinery, equipment and intermediates. And the federal authorities in Germany only watched it, while German politicians telling fairy tales about the western alliance and accusing us of betraying the union.
Here is the link:
www.welt.de
(Translation)
After the annexation of Crimea, German local companies continued to supply dual-use goods to Russia on a large scale with the approval of the federal authorities. Despite EU sanctions. This is shown by a previously unknown internal list.
In the recent past, German companies have been supplying large quantities of goods to Russia that can be used for military purposes. This emerges from a previously not publicly known list of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which is available to WELT AM SONNTAG.
In 2020, the Ministry or the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa), which reports to it, issued 673 licenses for the export of so-called dual-use goods to the destination country Russia. Total value: almost 366 million euros.
Dual-use goods are goods that can be used for both civil and military purposes. These include machines that can be used in weapon production, technology for aircraft construction or certain chemicals for military use. The large volume of these deliveries from Germany is surprising, because since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to an EU regulation, stricter criteria have applied to such exports to Russia than to other countries. The question therefore arises as to whether the German approval authorities are examining this thoroughly enough.
In 2020, Russia was the fourth largest recipient country of such goods from Germany, after China with 1.6 billion euros, the USA with one billion euros and Brazil with 371 million euros.
The empire of President Vladimir Putin was also more important as a destination country than France, for example, with goods worth almost 274 million euros. Ukraine, on the other hand, only receives a small number of dual-use supplies from Germany. In 2020, their value was 17 million euros.
Which goods are involved in the case of Russia in detail is largely not publicly known. There have been debates in recent years about the delivery of depleted uranium from Germany, which experts believe Russia could use in weapons production.
The German government last defended the approval of such exports in March 2021 with the argument that before an export license to Russia could be refused, “concrete indications that there is a risk of military end use” are needed.
Law professor Bernhard Wegener, an expert in public law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, on the other hand, doubts whether this approval practice is consistent with the applicable EU sanctions regulation. This already prohibits dual-use exports if the export goods "could be intended" for military purposes.
"The criteria that the federal government uses here in the approval process are presumably too lax," said Wegener: "Since 2014, dual-use exports to Russia have actually only been possible in exceptional cases." Back in October 2020, Wegener had these concerns all at once Legal opinion for the Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The Federal Ministry of Economics has now asserted that the EU regulations are “strictly” applied here.
The Greens member of the Bundestag, Stefan Wenzel, now called for the authorities to take a closer look: "Especially in the current tense situation with Russia, we have to enforce a restrictive export control policy," said Wenzel: "Bafa has to monitor very closely what is happening with dual-use goods and can rule out military use.”
The FDP economics expert Hagen Reinhold, on the other hand, defended the approval practice of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Bafa. He pointed out that the number of dual-use exports to Russia has already fallen recently. Due to the current Russian aggression, a tightening of the export bans is also conceivable. For this purpose, “all options are currently on the table,” said Reinhold.
There are also voices in German business that defend exports to Russia. In part, it is about goods that are used by the Russian oil production industry, said a representative of the association, who did not want to be quoted by name.
According to the Federal Government's own list for the year 2020, in the case of Russia, unlike the other large receiving countries, there were 130 additional permits for other so-called unlisted dual-use goods "and for goods under embargo regulations". This was about exports with a proud value of another good 660 million euros.
Due to the EU sanctions against Russia that have been in force since 2014, it is one of the countries of destination for which export certificates are required even for goods that are not explicitly listed and could be used for military purposes. These goods include, for example, large diesel engines that can be used to power warships.
Apparently, dual-use exports to Russia have slowly declined from very high levels in the recent past to the still high level today. In 2014, the year Crimea was occupied, Russia was still in second place with dual-use exports of over 520 million euros, behind China with 1.9 billion euros.
Similar to classic arms exports, dual-use exports are dependent on the company or authority in the recipient country issuing an end-use certificate. However, the probative value of such statements is disputed. "End-use certificates are a blunt sword," says Simone Wisotzki from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research. "Precisely because the sanctions are aimed at Russian military policy, one cannot trust the promises made there about end use," says Erlangen law professor Wegener.
In recent years, businessmen have repeatedly been busted who had smuggled machines or other equipment to Russia for the Russian ABC weapons program and had submitted false end-user certificates to Bafa. Last year, the Hamburg Higher Regional Court sentenced two men to prison who had procured milling machines for a Russian armaments company. In the background, according to the court, was a "secret service-controlled procurement structure" from Moscow.
Here is the link:
Umstrittene Exporte: Deutsche Unternehmen lieferten militärisch nutzbare Güter für Russland - WELT
Nach der Annexion der Krim lieferten hiesige Firmen mit Genehmigung der Bundesbehörden weiter in großem Umfang Dual-Use-Waren nach Russland. Trotz EU-Sanktionen. Das zeigt eine bisher unbekannte interne Aufstellung.
After the annexation of Crimea, German local companies continued to supply dual-use goods to Russia on a large scale with the approval of the federal authorities. Despite EU sanctions. This is shown by a previously unknown internal list.
In the recent past, German companies have been supplying large quantities of goods to Russia that can be used for military purposes. This emerges from a previously not publicly known list of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which is available to WELT AM SONNTAG.
In 2020, the Ministry or the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa), which reports to it, issued 673 licenses for the export of so-called dual-use goods to the destination country Russia. Total value: almost 366 million euros.
Dual-use goods are goods that can be used for both civil and military purposes. These include machines that can be used in weapon production, technology for aircraft construction or certain chemicals for military use. The large volume of these deliveries from Germany is surprising, because since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to an EU regulation, stricter criteria have applied to such exports to Russia than to other countries. The question therefore arises as to whether the German approval authorities are examining this thoroughly enough.
In 2020, Russia was the fourth largest recipient country of such goods from Germany, after China with 1.6 billion euros, the USA with one billion euros and Brazil with 371 million euros.
The empire of President Vladimir Putin was also more important as a destination country than France, for example, with goods worth almost 274 million euros. Ukraine, on the other hand, only receives a small number of dual-use supplies from Germany. In 2020, their value was 17 million euros.
Which goods are involved in the case of Russia in detail is largely not publicly known. There have been debates in recent years about the delivery of depleted uranium from Germany, which experts believe Russia could use in weapons production.
The German government last defended the approval of such exports in March 2021 with the argument that before an export license to Russia could be refused, “concrete indications that there is a risk of military end use” are needed.
Law professor Bernhard Wegener, an expert in public law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, on the other hand, doubts whether this approval practice is consistent with the applicable EU sanctions regulation. This already prohibits dual-use exports if the export goods "could be intended" for military purposes.
"The criteria that the federal government uses here in the approval process are presumably too lax," said Wegener: "Since 2014, dual-use exports to Russia have actually only been possible in exceptional cases." Back in October 2020, Wegener had these concerns all at once Legal opinion for the Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The Federal Ministry of Economics has now asserted that the EU regulations are “strictly” applied here.
The Greens member of the Bundestag, Stefan Wenzel, now called for the authorities to take a closer look: "Especially in the current tense situation with Russia, we have to enforce a restrictive export control policy," said Wenzel: "Bafa has to monitor very closely what is happening with dual-use goods and can rule out military use.”
The FDP economics expert Hagen Reinhold, on the other hand, defended the approval practice of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Bafa. He pointed out that the number of dual-use exports to Russia has already fallen recently. Due to the current Russian aggression, a tightening of the export bans is also conceivable. For this purpose, “all options are currently on the table,” said Reinhold.
There are also voices in German business that defend exports to Russia. In part, it is about goods that are used by the Russian oil production industry, said a representative of the association, who did not want to be quoted by name.
According to the Federal Government's own list for the year 2020, in the case of Russia, unlike the other large receiving countries, there were 130 additional permits for other so-called unlisted dual-use goods "and for goods under embargo regulations". This was about exports with a proud value of another good 660 million euros.
Due to the EU sanctions against Russia that have been in force since 2014, it is one of the countries of destination for which export certificates are required even for goods that are not explicitly listed and could be used for military purposes. These goods include, for example, large diesel engines that can be used to power warships.
Apparently, dual-use exports to Russia have slowly declined from very high levels in the recent past to the still high level today. In 2014, the year Crimea was occupied, Russia was still in second place with dual-use exports of over 520 million euros, behind China with 1.9 billion euros.
Similar to classic arms exports, dual-use exports are dependent on the company or authority in the recipient country issuing an end-use certificate. However, the probative value of such statements is disputed. "End-use certificates are a blunt sword," says Simone Wisotzki from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research. "Precisely because the sanctions are aimed at Russian military policy, one cannot trust the promises made there about end use," says Erlangen law professor Wegener.
In recent years, businessmen have repeatedly been busted who had smuggled machines or other equipment to Russia for the Russian ABC weapons program and had submitted false end-user certificates to Bafa. Last year, the Hamburg Higher Regional Court sentenced two men to prison who had procured milling machines for a Russian armaments company. In the background, according to the court, was a "secret service-controlled procurement structure" from Moscow.
Last edited:
