Poland detains German citizen for exporting goods to Russian plants “involved in the production of weapons”

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Agents from Poland’s Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego — or Internal Security Agency (Government of Poland photo)

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland said on Wednesday that it had detained a German citizen and charged the suspect with brokering and exporting dual-use goods to Russia.

"The German citizen traded in specialist machines used in the technological industry, which - through his company - were illegally sent to Russian military plants involved in the production of weapons," the Internal Security Agency said in a statement.

"The suspect pleaded guilty and filed a motion for voluntary submission to punishment."

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has already applied 14 packages of sanctions against Moscow to diminish the Kremlin's ability to finance the war. The measures span across sectors and include some 2,200 individuals and entities.

The sanctions include a ban on selling to Russia certain dual-use goods and technologies that have both civilian and military applications.

The Internal Security Agency statement did not specify the article of the criminal code under which the suspect was charged and it was not immediately clear what penalty he faces. (This story has been corrected to fix the number of packages of EU sanctions to 14, not 11, in paragraph 4)



(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Ros Russell)