Swedish Firms Suspected Of Skirting EU Sanctions On Russia: Govt

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.

Swedish authorities tasked with ensuring the EU sanctions are respected -- the Customs Service, the Board of Trade and the Inspectorate for Strategic Products (ISP) -- were also informed, the ministry 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.

The company "remains in full compliance with all applicable sanctions and related timelines –- EU and US -– regarding trade with Russia," it told AFP in an email.

"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."

The company said that "if Ericsson equipment were to be imported into Russia, this would not be through Ericsson, but rather through some secondary market."

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.

po/lth