Sweden Issues Warning About Suspected Russia Sanctions Violations
The Swedish Police Authority suspects that "extensive" violations of Russia sanctions are being committed by companies indirectly exporting products from Sweden to Russia through third countries, the agency said in a notice last week.
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The country's police said Swedish exports to Russia have fallen sharply since the EU introduced new sanctions after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Those drops in exports were followed by "significant increases" in exports to countries in Russia's "geographical proximity," the police agency said, according to an unofficial translation. Although some of that increase can be explained by Swedish companies looking for new markets, "it is insufficient to explain the entire development."
"We conclude that the changes in trade are also due to circumvention of the sanctions against Russia by companies operating in these countries," it said.
At the same time, Sweden has received a "very low inflow of reports" of sanctions violations, which is "worrying," said Johan Grenfors, Sweden's chief of police. The country's police authority and customs agency have a "handful of preliminary investigations underway" involving sanctions violations.
The notice listed several methods that companies may be using to circumvent sanctions, including by moving their manufacturing or exports to subsidiaries or branches in countries that don't have sanctions laws against Russia or that have "weak enforcement," by buying products that can be disassembled and used to make military equipment, and by using cyrptocurrency to avoid traditional financial channels.