German firms flout EU sanctions, deliver banned coolants to Russia

German customs authorities are allowing deliveries to Russia of a specialized cooling liquid for metalworking machines, which is prohibited by EU sanctions, reports the portal "The Insider." The delivery will be handled by a Hong Kong company registered to Ukrainian citizens.

As determined by the portal, the European Union prohibits deliveries containing special industrial lubricants to Russia. Data shows that since the beginning of 2024, from the German city of Lübeck to Russia, over 66 tons of special lubricants have been sent.

The supplier was VIP Resource Limited with an address in Hong Kong. At the same time, it is the German city of Lübeck that is indicated as the place of dispatch. The recipient was the Yekaterinburg company Amertend LLC, which actively deals in retail sales of lubricants for machine tools within Russia, according to "The Insider."

VIP Resource Limited's owner is Maxim Krivoruchenko. The company is registered in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, but journalists report that it may be merely a "shell." In Hong Kong documents, he is listed as a Ukrainian citizen. His real name is Seyedmokhammadkhassan Seyedaliakbar Abtagiabarhui.

Journalists from "The Insider" asked for the opinion of experts. This specialized liquid is used in the military-industrial complex. - Without the coolant, the machine will stop. And if you fill it with the wrong liquid, it will stop working forever, informs theins.ru.

This is another scandal involving German companies. In April, the local TV channel ARD revealed that German companies are helping Russians in the reconstruction of the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol. This particularly involves the companies Knauf and WKB Systems. The main evidence included photos and videos from Mariupol itself and the annual reports of the enterprises. The company's founder, Nikolaus Knauf, was an honorary consul in Russia for over two decades. The main shareholder of the second company is the Russian oligarch Viktor Budarin, who was not subject to sanctions at the time of the investigative material's publication.