A company registered in Serbia for fruit trade supplies Russia with parts for rockets
Russia is trying to provide its military industry with parts of foreign production in every way. Missiles like Kinzhal and Iskander, electronics on tanks and planes, drones and other sophisticated projects were assembled based on the ideas of Russian engineers, but with foreign parts. The process of Russification of production was supposed to ensure complete independence, but this was not achieved and now EU and US sanctions are hitting production hard. That is why they resort to the tricks of procurement through third countries, including Serbia.
Commercially available data on international trade, which the Balkan Security Network had access to, confirm the allegations of Serbian media that certain companies founded by Russian citizens serve to circumvent EU and US sanctions through the procurement of goods needed for military production, including GoodForwarding d.o.o. from Belgrade.
In that data, GoodForwarding d.o.o. otherwise registered in the Agency for Economic Registers for Trade in Fruits and Vegetables, it is marked as a "significant source of supply" to Russia with microchips and printed circuit boards from Far Eastern and Western manufacturers, necessary for the production of rockets, drones and other weapons and military equipment.
The data reveals that from November to December 2022, GoodForwarding d.o.o. had 42 transactions with companies from China (21), USA (9), Taiwan (4), Japan (4), Great Britain (1), Republic of Korea (1), Malaysia (1) and Thailand (1) whose the components were then exported to Russia.
Such activities of the company represent a potential violation of a number of international sanctions and agreements, from the American OFAC, the sanctions of the European Commission to the Wassenaar Agreement signed by all EU members, the USA, Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and Russia.
Business of this nature is also in contradiction with the state policy of Serbia. Although Belgrade has not introduced restrictive measures against Russia, the Government of Serbia has said it will not allow it to be a platform for circumventing international sanctions. This is what Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said in May of this year in a conversation with the special EU envoy for the implementation of sanctions, David O'Sullivan.
In the eleventh package of sanctions against the Russian Federation that the EU introduced on June 23, 2023, special attention was paid to the issue of their circumvention through third countries. Close cooperation with the governments of third countries is foreseen, but also more radical measures to prevent circumvention, including the ban on the export of goods to those countries that can serve to strengthen military, industrial and technical capacities.