The russian publication The Insider claims in one of its publications that AZK Group LTD was able to circumvent sanctions by purchasing a rotary machine with numerical program control manufactured in 1983 by the Austrian company GFM (Gesellschaft für Fertigungstechnik und Maschinenbau). The machine weighs 103 tons and costs $1.3 million.
Such machines are important to the russians for ensuring the production of barrels for artillery systems. The supplier was allegedly Forward Technical Trade SL, registered in Barcelona, and the consignor of the cargo was allegedly Scorpion’s Holding Group Limited, registered in Hong Kong.
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As the authors of the aforementioned publication claim, they became aware of the above-mentioned fact thanks to access to the materials of one of the court proceedings between the aforementioned AZK Group LTD from Izhevsk and the russian customs. The subject of the dispute was as follows – the machine was imported according to the documents as a “rotary forging machine”, but the customs officers insisted that it should have been registered as a “radial forging machine” with the appropriate payment of duty.
The fact of importing a machine by the Austrian GFM, even if it is a machine manufactured in 1983, attracts attention because the machines and mechanisms of this company have been used since the 1970s at enterprises of the Soviet and then russian military-industrial complex for the production of barrels for artillery systems.
During the Cold War, the USSR imported 26 rotary machines manufactured by GFM, one of which, under the designation SXP 55, was used to produce 203-mm barrels for the 2S7 self-propelled guns, which was mentioned in one of its reports by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
At the moment, the russian military-industrial complex essentially has no substitute for equipment from the Austrian GFM, which is why the russians are trying to buy such machines in all possible ways.
The answers from the Spanish government structures, which the authors of The Insider cite in their publication, look quite revealing. They say that the Directorate General for Trade Policy replied that "in case of suspicion of a violation of the sanctions policy by a Spanish exporter, one should contact the Criminal Chamber of the National Court", while the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union of the European Commission (DG FISMA) apparently did not give any answer at all.
From Defense Express we will separately emphasize - against this background, the question logically arises of how the implementation of the sanctions regime of Western countries in relation to russian military enterprises is ensured at all, if in fact the russians themselves "shine" the facts of violations committed by their subjects.
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