Poland fines company that supplied luxury cars to Russia in breach of sanctions

Polish authorities have fined a company for PLN20 million (€4.7 million), for supplying luxury cars to Russia in breach of sanctions.

Source: The Insider, citing a statement by the Polish government

Details: The authorities did not name the company, saying only that it operates in Małopolska Voivodeship, whose administrative centre is the city of Kraków, and is run by Belarusian citizens.

Investigators established that in 2022 and 2023 the company bought cars in Western European countries and then shipped them to Russia via Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Transport documents listed other destinations.

In this way, the company sent more than 100 cars to Russia with a total value of more than PLN49 million (€11.6 million).

Quote from the Polish authorities: "The evidence indicates that the company's management acted knowingly and deliberately to circumvent sanctions."

More details: Under EU sanctions, Russia is banned from receiving luxury goods worth more than €300 and cars costing more than €50,000.

Russian customs data examined by The Insider showed that in 2022-2024 Tochniye Postavki LLC, registered in Russia's city of Smolensk, imported cars into Russia worth at least US$13.3 million in total.

In 2024, Bentley and Toyota cars worth US$4.8 million were purchased in Poland, Türkiye and Georgia. The suppliers were Import-Centre West registered in the Belarusian city of Minsk and KW Quality registered in Warsaw.

In 2022-2024, Tochniye Postavki imported Bentley, BMW and Mercedes cars from Belarus and Armenia worth US$8.5 million.

Background:

• Hong Kong has become a key logistics and financial hub enabling Russia to circumvent international sanctions and obtain critical Western technologies for its war in Ukraine.
• Financial Times previously identified 48 companies that worked together to conceal the origin of Russian oil, including that exported by Rosneft.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!