Swedish firms suspected of skirting Russia sanctions

STOCKHOLM

Sweden's foreign ministry has said that it had been in contact with Ericsson, Volvo and other Swedish multinationals after the European Commission said they were suspected of exporting products to Russia despite EU sanctions.

The other companies included Atlas Copco, Sandvik, SKF and Axis, the Foreign Ministry's press office told AFP in an email, adding that it took the commission's information "very seriously."

The EU slapped sanctions on numerous sectors of the Russian economy in 2022 in response to Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"The ministry of foreign affairs has informed the companies of the information we received from the EU Commission," it said.

"The relevant authorities' assessment is that the information is not entirely complete and requires further analysis ... to investigate how the products ended up in Russia," the ministry said.

The commission had informed the Foreign Ministry by letter that the companies "may have circumvented the sanctions through third countries, either via subsidiaries, subcontractors or other actors."

It said the EU body's information was based on Russian customs data, and included information on imports of sensitive products to Russia during January-November 2023.

Telecoms equipment giant Ericsson categorically denied that it had circumvented EU sanctions.

"Since the invasion of Ukraine, Ericsson has not supplied any hardware components to Russia and all software deliveries and services to customers were wound down in compliance with applicable sanctions by the end of 2022, it told AFP in an email.

The Swedish foreign ministry said "all EU countries were included in the EU Commission's follow-up to counter sanctions evasion," but said it had not been informed of which EU countries had been asked to follow up.