German firms keep supplying Russia with high-tech machines: report
Germany’s major machinery makers NSH and DMG Mori continue to sell their products in Russia, despite the Kremlin’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) outlet.
Pixabay license.Image by Dmitrii Bardadim from Pixabay
A spokesperson for the Niles-Simmons-Hegenscheidt (NSH) Group told RND that the company “completely halted its economic activity in the Russian Federation,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s polskieradio.pl website reported on Tuesday.
However, according to export documents obtained by RND, the NSH Group continued to supply its machinery to Russia, through at least three subsidiaries, even after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
For instance, Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH, a subsidiary company based in the eastern city of Chemnitz, has sent at least 68 export shipments to Russia, with a combined worth of USD 5.4 million, polskieradio.pl reported.
One of the NSH Group’s main Russian customers is the steel company Evraz, 31%-owned by Roman Abramovich, sanctioned by the European Union over “close links” to Putin, according to the wnp.pl website.
The Evraz group has reportedly supplied Russian arms makers, an allegation the company denies, polskieradio.pl reported.
Germany’s NSH Group has also sold its products to Allegro LLC, a joint venture between a railway company and the Evraz group, according to RND.
Two other subsidiaries of the NSH Group, Rasoma Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH and Hegenscheidt-MFD GmbH & Co. KG, have also continued to do business with Russian firms after Moscow’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, polskieradio.pl reported.
According to RND, the NSH Group’s supplies to Russia continued as recently as in March 2023, and included nine Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) machines sold officially “for non-military purposes.”
Thanks to their durability and precision, CNC machines are used by many industries, including the aviation sector, the metal industry and the defence sector, polskieradio.pl noted.
“In Russia, they are used mainly in the defence industry and Russia is totally dependent on the imports of CNC machinery and spare parts,” said Olena Yurchenko, a senior analyst of the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
The allegations about the NSH Group came days after another German machinery maker, DMG Mori, was also reported to have continued to sell its products to Russia after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine, according to news outlets.
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Source: wnp.pl, polskieradio.pl, NSH Group
