Netherlands to Imprison Exporter for Sending Aircraft Parts to Russia

A Dutch court sentenced an unnamed Soviet Union-born defendant to two years and eight months in prison last week for exporting more than 460 sanctioned aircraft parts to three Russian companies, the London office of Duane Morris said.

The District Court of Rotterdam also ordered the confiscation of more than 250,000 euros, or about $275,000, and the forfeiture of all stock-in-trade and business bank accounts, the law firm said. In a separate judgment by the court, an unnamed company involved in the illegal exports was fined about $180,000.

Duane Morris said that while the individual had created a paper trail that purported to show the parts went to Serbia, Tajikistan and Turkey, internal documents linked the exports to the Russian companies: JSC Siberia Airlines, Ural Airlines and aircraft maintenance firm S7 Engineering LLC.

The court concluded that the defendant deliberately ignored sanctions that the EU imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to an unofficial translation of the decision. Instead of looking for new markets after the sanctions were unveiled, the defendant searched for new routes so he could continue supplying his Russian customers.

“The suspect and his associates had only one goal: to make as much money as possible,” the court said. “After all, the black market that emerged after the sanctions offered higher profit margins than usual.”

Exacerbating the situation was that the defendant had firearms and large amounts of money in his possession and gave varying explanations for doing so, leading the court to conclude that the defendant was guilty of weapons and money laundering charges. “Such a combination of offenses is only appropriate for a hefty prison sentence,” the court said.