Dutch defence ministry official arrested for evasion of Russia sanctions

The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested a Defence Ministry official accused of having evaded EU sanctions against Russia by exporting spare aircraft parts to Russia via third countries, the government agency announced on September 15.

The 48-year-old Arnhem-based man was arrested in late August, while his 53-year-old accomplice, who provided investigators with the necessary information to close in on the Defence official, was arrested the day before, Еuractiv reports.

“Investigative information led on 30 August to the search of the residence and the arrest of a 48-year-old man from Arnhem. He too is suspected of circumventing sanctions legislation through his companies […] by exporting aircraft parts to Russia […],” the FIOD stated in a press release.

The two men are accused of exporting spare aircraft parts to Russia via third countries following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the introduction of EU sanctions in February last year.

“Records, digital data carriers and ammunition were seized at his residence. The man is employed by the Ministry of Defence,” it added.

The news comes a week after Latvia-based Russian investigative website iStories published a report on how spare aeroplane parts are being re-exported to Russia by Western companies via third countries – including Lithuanian companies, as Euractiv’s media partner LRT reported.

After weeks of painstaking negotiations, EU member states agreed in June on a new sanctions package against Russia, targeting the evasion of sanctions by EU-based companies through third countries.

The Netherlands has been one of the EU’s more hawkish members regarding Russia sanctions, which arrests a government official for evading them all the more worrying.

In February, then-Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra (CDA/EPP) called for establishing a centralised EU sanctions watchdog to better monitor and punish evasion of EU sanctions against Russia.

The Defence Ministry has not commented on the issue so far.