The Slovenian subsidiary of the Kontron company was apparently part of the Russian Federation’s efforts to acquire technologies that then found their way to the battlefield. The company responded to the claims by saying that its business activities were conducted according to the letter of the law.
Between July and November 2023, 49 shipments were sent from the Slovenian branch of Germany’s Kontron company to Russia, worth more than 3.5 million euros. This was a period when sanctions against Russia adopted at the level of the European Union were already in force.
How did they manage to do this? The media outlet Politico reports that Kontron found a legal loophole that allowed them to circumvent the EU sanctions regime. According to media reports, the shipments first went to Kazakhstan, and then the shipments of technological products were diverted from Astana to Moscow. The shipments allegedly contained so-called “dual use” technologies. The exported technology is supposed to enable surveillance and interception of communications traffic. The technology in question is said to be the SI3000 system, according to reports by the media outlet Jutarnji list.
The law enforcement authorities and the European Commission have so far remained silent on the matter, so it is unclear at this stage whether the company has already been investigated. However, Kontron has responded by distancing itself from any wrongdoing and, since the adoption of the 11th sanctions package, has only exported products allowed under the export licences issued.
The company has announced in recent years a phased withdrawal from the Russian market and has also condemned the human suffering caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Notwithstanding these public proclamations and condemnations, the company still has business links with the market through its Russian subsidiary Iskra Technologies, which has been forced to reduce its workforce from 600 to 240 employees as a direct consequence of the sanctions imposed.
The link to the Russian market exists through the Slovenian subsidiary. Kontron, through its Slovenian subsidiary Kontron d.o.o., has a 48.4 percent stake in Iskra Technologies, and this company plays a key role in Putin’s Russia’s strategy to obtain the necessary technologies despite the sanctions. In fact, the company has been awarded the Russian Industry Prize for promoting technological independence in telecommunications.
The disclosure was met with a strong reaction in the German political sphere. Konstantin von Notz (the Greens) called for an investigation and the sanctioning of all European companies seeking creative ways of feeding the Russian war machine. His colleague Roderich Kiesewetter of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), on the other hand, pointed out that it is precisely the lack of Western technology that is the strongest blow to Russia’s war technology.
Ž. K.
