Austrian authorities dismantled a network that funneled restricted industrial equipment to Russian arms manufacturers using intermediary companies in Spain and Hong Kong. Austrian firms GFM and Hennlich Group exploited gaps in the enforcement of EU sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. One documented transaction involved a 1983 CNC forging machine weighing 110 tons, sold for $1.3 million and shipped from Spain to Russian firm AZK Group LLC. Between 2022 and 2024, Hennlich Group’s Russian subsidiary completed 583 shipments worth a combined $2.9 million. GFM’s radial forging machines, essential for manufacturing artillery barrels, expose a strategic vulnerability in the Western sanctions regime.
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