A major Norwegian automotive supplier exported millions of dollars in sanctioned truck parts that ended up feeding the Russian war machine through Turkey, a Radio Free Europe investigation has revealed.
Russia's war against Ukraine has damaged the vehicle stocks of the Russian military, which since launching its full-scale invasion three years ago has increasingly relied on civilian trucks - including for transporting equipment and personnel.
The US and EU sanctions, imposed immediately after the invasion in February 2022, were intended to cut off the supply of Western auto parts that could help keep Russian President Vladimir Putin's military active.
But one of Norway's leading suppliers to the automotive industry exported millions of dollars in truck parts that ended up feeding Russia's war machine through a Turkish middleman, who resold them in circumvention of EU sanctions, an investigation by Schemat, the investigative unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Ukrainian Service, and the Norwegian public broadcaster, NRK, has revealed.
Kongsberg Automotive, based in Kongsberg in southern Norway, is a major supplier of parts to leading car brands such as Volvo, Ford, Scania and Jaguar Land Rover. The company says it has stopped all direct exports to Russia in 2022 on its own initiative, calling selling to an "aggressive" state "immoral and reprehensible."
But data extracted from Russian customs, provided by Schemat, shows that at least 126 shipments of Kongsberg Automotive parts were sent to Russia from July 2022 to April 2024 by Hidirusta Otomotiv, one of the Norwegian company's customers in Turkey, which has not joined the Western coalition of sanctions against Moscow.
The total value of these shipments was around $2.8 million, according to the released data.
The Norwegian company's roundabout delivery route highlights the difficulties Western governments have faced in using sanctions to stop the flow of critical equipment and electronics to the Russian military.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Istanbul-based company Hidirusta Otomotiv had no recorded shipments to Russia, according to data from ImportGenius, a trade customs data platform.
This seems to have changed overnight.
By 2023, Russia became the Turkish firm's largest market – and remains so today, according to ImportGenius data.
Most of Hidirusta Otomotiv's shipments to Russia consisted of Kongsberg Automotive parts that the company purchased from other resellers, while the rest was imported directly from the Norwegian company.
Hidirusta Otomotiv did not respond to a request for comment. Kongsberg Automotive called the resale of its parts in Russia "unacceptable and contrary to our values."
While most of Hidirusta Otomotiv's shipments of Kongsberg Automotive parts were sent to Russian companies engaged in truck repairs or transportation services, two of them – APR and Gruzavtozapchast-36 – have documented commercial ties to Russian defense firms.
APR supplied machine parts to Orenburgagrosnabtekhservis, a partner of one of the oldest and largest machine-building and metallurgical enterprises in Russia, Kirovsky Zavod, which has been under US sanctions since 2023.
One of Kirovsky Zavod's subsidiaries, Universalmash, based in St. Petersburg, provides parts for Russian military equipment that the Kremlin has deployed in Ukraine.
Gruzavtozapchast-36, meanwhile, has ties to Baltic Leasing, a Russian company that last year supplied bulldozers to one of the largest military training centers in Russia, which is under Ukrainian sanctions since 2023.
Neither APR nor Gruzavtozapchast-36 responded to requests for comment before the publication of this article.
Launching attack drones
Civilian vans and trucks have become increasingly important to Russia's war effort due to the extensive damage military vehicles have suffered during its full-scale occupation, according to Aage Borchgrevink, senior advisor at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and coordinator of the sanctions project.
"The war in Ukraine is very much about logistics. The entire Russian economy is geared towards producing goods and services that will make this war possible. One of the most important things here are trucks and car parts," Borchgrevink said.
Furthermore, civilian trucks can be used not only for transportation, but also for launching attack drones such as the Iranian-made Shahed-136, which Russia uses in its attacks on Ukraine.
In March 2022, the Iranian military-focused media outlet, IMA Media, published a video showing in detail how this works.
"To keep the wheels turning, Russia needed a completely new fleet of trucks, which then required spare parts," Borchgrevink said.
Research by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and Norwegian risk analysis firm Corisk shows that Russian truck imports increased in the winter of 2023.
Since then, Moscow has increased its truck imports tenfold, according to a report by Corisk, a move aimed at supporting battlefield logistics despite heavy Western sanctions.
Studiuesi i Corisk-ut, Erlend Bollman Bjortvedt, tha se Rusia mbështetet gjithnjë e më shumë në automjetet civile për “të transportuar gjithçka - nga ushqimi te municionet dhe granatat në vijat e frontit".
Raportet e mediave ruse i bënë jehonë këtij trendi, duke u kërkuar qytetarëve të dhurojnë automjete civile, duke përmendur mungesën e madhe të shkaktuar nga përdorimi i gjerë i dronëve nga Ukraina.
"Vetëm një pjesë e vogël mund të shkaktojë keqfunksionimin e një kamioni. Pra, kur ju jeni një kompani perëndimore dhe prodhoni ndoshta pjesë të vogla që duken të pafajshme, një unazë gome për disa dollarë ose një kushinetë topi, mund të jetë ajo pjesë e vogël që në fakt bën që një kamion me defekt të fillojë të punojë përsëri", tha Bjortvedt.
Neglizhencë apo shmangie e sanksioneve?
Përballë këtyre gjetjeve, Kongsberg Automotive u distancua nga transaksionet, duke deklaruar se kishte ndalur shitjet e drejtpërdrejta në Rusi në vitin 2022.
Sapo i shesim mallrat tona, ne humbasim pronësinë dhe kontrollin mbi zinxhirin e furnizimit..."
Në një përgjigje me shkrim, kompania norvegjeze tha: "Ne besojmë se është e papranueshme dhe e trishtueshme nëse produktet tona përfundojnë në vendet ku zbatohen sanksionet. Rishitja e supozuar nga klientët tanë është e papranueshme dhe në kundërshtim me vlerat tona".
Kongsberg Automotive, megjithatë, argumentoi se gjurmimi i produkteve pas shitjes është i vështirë.
Kongsberg shprehu gjithashtu tronditje që Hidirusta Otomotiv kishte rishitur një vëllim kaq të lartë të pjesëve të saj në Rusi, duke thënë se nuk arriti të verifikonte siç duhet klientin e saj turk dhe pretendoi se nuk e dinte se tregu më i madh i eksportit të Hidirustas është Rusia.
Pas hetimit nga Skemat dhe NRK, prodhuesi norvegjez tha se kishte ndërprerë marrëdhënien me Hidirusta Otomotiv dhe kishte udhëzuar të gjithë klientët e tij të ndalonin tregtinë me firmën turke. Për më tepër, kompania tani kërkon nga klientët e saj që të nënshkruajnë angazhime kontraktuale për të respektuar sanksionet.
Ekspertët ligjorë thonë se Kongsberg Automotive mund të përballet me pasoja nëse autoritetet përcaktojnë se nuk ka kryer kontrollin e duhur të klientëve.
Detyrimi për të kontrolluar respektimin e sanksioneve bie mbi autoritetet e shteteve përkatëse anëtare të BE-së. Në Norvegji, është Shërbimi i Sigurisë Policore (PST).
Nënkryetari i PST-së, Inga Bejer Engh, tha se një kompani mund të dënohet -- duke përfshirë edhe penalisht -- nëse nuk bën sa duhet për të kuptuar se klienti i saj po shkel sanksionet.
Engh tha se ajo nuk është e njohur me rastin Kongsberg Automotive dhe se do të varet nga fakti nëse është demonstruar shkalla e nevojshme e fajit.
"To decide what constitutes prudent behavior, you have to ask yourself how an ordinarily reasonable and conscientious person would have acted in the same situation. To be punished for negligent violation of the sanctions rules, the company must have acted differently from what could be expected of a normally reasonable and conscientious company," said Stian Oby Johansen, associate professor at the Department of Law at the University of Oslo.
Experts say Turkey is widely known as a sanctions evasion route, meaning companies exporting goods there must exercise increased scrutiny over potential resales to Russia.
Borchgrevink of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said it was "disappointing" that Kongsberg Automotive seemed to "make much less effort to track their goods and prevent these situations from happening."
After reviewing the findings from Schemat and NRK, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's sanctions policy commissioner, said the case "casts a shadow over the entire sanctions policy and its effectiveness in the EU."
Ukrainian President Zelensky and his sanctions officials called the case a failure of EU policies to prevent the flow of goods that aid the Russian war.
Oleh Symoroz, a Ukrainian veteran, said that Western countries, including Norway, could do more to enforce the sanctions.
"Western countries have the power to stop this. And if they had used this power, these sales to Russia would not have happened," he said.
"Spare parts for trucks in particular are what help Russia be strong on the battlefield. That's why this is a problem," Vlasiuk said.
Oleh Symoroz, a 28-year-old veteran soldier who became an anti-corruption activist after a serious battlefield injury, said he wonders whether the EU and its member states are doing enough to enforce the sanctions.
"Western countries, including Norway, can make sanctions effective. And if they had used that power, these sales to Russia would not have happened," he said. REL (A2 Televizion)
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