Dutch Prosecutor's Office launches 45 investigations on evading EU sanctions against Russia
The Prosecutor's Office of the Netherlands has launched 45 criminal investigations against companies and individuals suspected of evading EU sanctions against Russia.
Source: RTL News Dutch news outlet, reported by European Pravda
Details: Out of 45 launched criminal investigations, 29 are related to violations of import and export rules. The rest of the investigations are about evading financial sanctions.
A criminal case has been opened within one criminal investigation where a person is suspected of exporting microchips to Russia via Kazakhstan. This case has not been considered and reviewed at court yet.
Sanctions evasion is punishable by imprisonment of up to six years.
Last month, Statistics Netherlands reported that the Netherlands exported way fewer products to Russia over the past year. Semiconductors and chips that are in the sanction list have shown the biggest export decrease.
However, the NOS and Nieuwsuur research have shown that a lot of chips get to Russia through intermediaries. They use "backup" countries sometimes as well.
Background: Bloomberg reported that Russia is likely successfully evading the European Union and G7 sanctions in order to receive the most important semiconductors and other technologies for its war in Ukraine.
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