Germany on Tuesday arrested a German-Russian man for selling to Russia electronic components that are used in military gear, including drones currently deployed by Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.
Through his company in western Germany, the suspect, identified as Waldemar W., exported components on 26 occasions from January 2020 to March 2023 to a company in Russia that makes military equipment, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The objects supplied by the suspect are a common component of the “Orlan 10” drone, prosecutors said, noting that the particular type of equipment is “currently used by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine”.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the components were already covered by sanctions imposed by the EU in 2014 against Moscow over its illegal annexation of Crimea.