In Finland, the first sentence was handed down for violating sanctions against Russia

A COURT in Finland has sentenced French citizen Gabriel Temin, who was accused of exporting “thousands of drones” to RUSSIA, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper writes, noting that this is the first sentence in the country for violating new sanctions against Russia.

Temin is the CEO of the Finnish companies Luminor and Siberica, which are engaged in international cargo transportation and warehouses.

The businessman was accused of “exporting thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia,” but in the end the court did not find direct evidence of this. The investigation later found out that in 2022 and 2023 Temin exported goods subject to EXPORT restrictions from Germany to Russia. The documents indicated Kazakhstan as the destination , but in the end the goods were sent to St. Petersburg .

Temin's companies also transported Skynet equipment through Russia, which Luminor acquired in Taiwan. These are devices designed to intercept drones, costing almost €400 thousand.

The prosecutor's office demanded a four-year prison sentence for the defendant, but in the end the court sentenced him to a suspended nine-month prison sentence.

The EU Council in November 2022 unanimously approved the inclusion of violations of sanctions measures in the list of crimes against the European Union.

“Including the violation of restrictive measures in the list of crimes against the EU is the first of two steps aimed at ensuring the same level of application of sanctions throughout the EU and preventing attempts to circumvent or violate restrictions,” Brussels said at the time.

Subsequently, the EU authorities repeatedly took measures against circumvention of sanctions.

In December 2023, the EU Council obliged exporters of European goods to include in contracts for the supply of certain sensitive products to third countries other than “partner countries” a condition prohibiting re-export to Russia or to another country for use in Russia.

A new article was introduced into the EU sanctions regulation 833/2014, which defines sectoral sanctions against Russia.