As late as 2021, authorities approved billions of dollars in goods for Russia that could be used for military purposes

2021 was the year that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Ukraine a part of the Russian nation and gradually deployed troops along the Ukrainian border. In the same year, German companies once again supplied their country with technology that could potentially be used militarily on an astonishing scale. This is shown by a previously unknown internal list by the Federal Ministry of Economics from August 2, 2022, which is available to WELT.

The German authorities approved exports of so-called dual-use goods for Russia worth almost 1.5 billion euros, which can be used for both civil and military purposes. Only China was an even more important destination with exports of 2.5 billion euros. The approved deliveries for Russia even significantly exceeded the figures from the previous year.

As WELT reported in February, the German authorities gave the green light for dual-use goods for Russia worth a good one billion euros in 2020. This figure, too, was met with sharp criticism from the Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk after it was made public.

Dual-use goods include, for example, machines that can be used not only for civil purposes but also for weapons production, as well as technology for aircraft construction or certain chemicals or software. Among the exports for Russia approved by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) for 2021 were goods worth 663 million so-called listed dual-use goods in the narrower sense.

This was almost twice as many as in 2020, when this category accounted for goods worth 357 million euros. In addition, there were further exports worth 817 million euros for so-called unlisted dual-use goods in 2021. These include, for example, large diesel engines that can be used in warships.

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, stricter criteria apply to such exports to Russia than to other countries such as even China, according to an EU regulation. That's another reason why the high figures for Putin's empire are astounding. In 2021, they reached almost the same value as in 2014 - the last year in which the sanctions did not apply in some cases and dual-use exports to Russia worth a good 1.5 billion euros were approved by the German authorities.

"Last year there was still a great deal of naivety in the federal government towards Russia," comments Green Party defense expert Sara Nanni on the figures. The Federal Ministry of Economics, led by its party congress Robert Habeck, on the other hand, is still defending the approval practice of the previous government. "A number-based general view based on the approval values ​​of a reporting period is not a suitable indicator for assessing the restrictiveness of approval decisions," argued a spokesman when asked.

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, permits to Russia for dual-use goods "were only granted" "if civilian use could be secured," the spokesman assured. According to the ministry, the "intended concrete use of the dual-use good by the end user" has always been "checked and evaluated".

This argument is surprising. As recently as March 2021, the then federal government had announced that it could only refuse the export of dual-use goods to Russia if there were "concrete indications that there is a risk of military end-use". With this rather generous practice, Bafa, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, accommodated the interests of the export industry. Even then, critics felt that this export policy was too lax.

"End-use certificates are a blunt sword," says Simone Wisotzki from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research. In recent years, repeated cases have been uncovered in which the Russian armaments industry had even procured dual-use technology for the production of NBC weapons from Germany through straw men and with falsified end-use certificates.

In September, WELT AM SONNTAG and the research network “Correctiv” revealed that the Russian military was able to procure engine technology for warships from German companies in a roundabout way until 2021. The focus was on a Russian company in Riga, Latvia, which kept ordering smaller engines and other equipment such as gaskets and rev counters from companies like Deutz AG in Cologne. Upon receipt, the Latvian company shipped the goods to Russia, to another private company in Saint Petersburg, which in turn supplied the navy.

The Russians circumvented the embargo on large marine diesel engines imposed by the EU in 2014 by procuring engines from the Chinese manufacturer Henan Diesel Engine Industry. Its machines were apparently also based on know-how from previous collaborations with Deutz.

In 2018, the Latvian authorities confiscated four TBD620 engines, built by Henan under a Deutz license and destined for Russia. This emerges from a judgment of the highest Latvian court, which is available to WELT. Reason for confiscation: The Latvian authorities had noticed that the real end customer was the Russian military.

The German authorities do not seem to have noticed the detour business - or they were unproblematic from their point of view. Deutz assured that before the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, it had delivered to the company in Latvia and its partner company in Saint Petersburg. However, certificates of civilian use have always been received from there. The Bafa have also approved the deliveries.

Dual-use shipments, which often involve high-tech products, to Russia are now all but impossible thanks to new sanctions. The fact that these transactions have not been discussed publicly so far is also due to the fact that the figures are not officially published.

It was actually expected that this would change for the EU countries this fall. According to a new Brussels regulation, which the member states had also agreed to under the German leadership of negotiations, an official dual-use report should be published for the first time in 2022, which contains extensive “information about permits”, including their value according to “types of goods and destinations Union and Member State level”.

However, the implementation of this publication obligation still encounters obstacles. At the beginning of September, the EU Commission presented a dual-use report. However, the report lacks detailed figures on exports in the previous year. According to the EU Commission, this is because the member states have not delivered. A spokeswoman promised that this “gap” would be closed in the coming year and then the export data for 2021 together with those for 2022 would be submitted later. That applies in any case, as long as the member states "play along".

It is already clear that the German Economics Ministry in Berlin only wants to play a limited role. From the point of view of Habeck’s officials, the publication requirements “are not yet applicable for the 2021 reporting period”. Only the data for 2022 would then be "transmitted from the Member States to the Commission" in 2023.

The Green MEP Reinhard Bütikofer already wants more transparency. The new dual-use regulation is of "strategic importance, especially in relation to authoritarian regimes," he told WELT. If the member states do not provide the requested information, it shows "that they still prioritize national economic development and in doing so seal themselves off to a certain extent instead of giving priority to common security," said Bütikofer.