UPDATE 2-Germany arrests five suspected of supplying Russian firms in sanctions breach

"Today's operations, ordered by federal prosecutors, show that we rigorously ⁠enforce the sanctions we have agreed on the EU level," he said. One suspect, a German-Russian national, is alleged to have controlled a trading company in Luebeck suspected of being ⁠at the centre of the operation.

Germany has detained five people suspected of operating a network that exported goods ‌to Russian defence companies, contravening European Union sanctions imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, federal prosecutors said on Monday.

The Federal Prosecutors' Office estimated the ⁠group had arranged 16,000 shipments, worth a combined 30 million euros ($36 million), since February 2022 and that Russian state agencies were suspected of directing the procurement activities. The people were arrested by ​customs officers in Luebeck, a Baltic Sea port city in northern Germany, and the ‍surrounding Herzogtum Lauenburg district, it said.

The suspects — identified as German, Ukrainian and Russian nationals — were apprehended under warrants issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice. The prosecutors said 24 listed Russian defence firms had allegedly ⁠served ‌as end-users.

The Russian embassy ⁠in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the prosecutors' accusations. Searches were conducted at ‍various locations, including Frankfurt am Main, a major financial centre, and the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, and ​five further suspects remain at large, the prosecutors said.

Finance minister Lars Klingbeil said the ⁠arrests were a sign of Germany's resolve in prosecuting embargo breaches. "Today's operations, ordered by federal prosecutors, show that we rigorously ⁠enforce the sanctions we have agreed on the EU level," he said.

One suspect, a German-Russian national, is alleged to have controlled a trading company in Luebeck suspected of being ⁠at the centre of the operation. Prosecutors says shell companies, fake recipients within and outside the EU ⁠and a Russian entity ‌were used to obscure the shipments.

An asset freeze has been ordered against the equivalent value of the transactions, the prosecutors' office said. ($1 = 0.8437 ⁠euros)