Armtek finds a detour: European car parts reach Russia through Turkey
Armtek Holding has changed its supplier of auto parts for the Russian market amid sanctions pressure. This is evidenced by customs data available to Buro.
Steel Universe Lojistik Ve Ticaret Limited, a Turkish company, has become a new exporter of automotive components to Russia. It replaced companies from Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates that were subject to Western sanctions following our The Big Repairs investigation.
In the publication, we provided information about Armtek, a holding company specialising in the distribution of automotive components on a worldwide scale. Belarusians Vadzim and Aleh Hrynkeviches are its founders. Buro discovered that Armtek serviced the personal motor pool of Aleksandr Lukashenko and supplied sanctioned dual-use goods – European-made bearings – to warring Russia.
Our article mentioned the Kazakh company ZapchastTrade and the Emirati company Texco FZE. Last year, they were the leading suppliers of auto parts for the Russian company A.P.R., which is part of the Armtek Holding. However, following our investigation, both intermediaries were sanctioned. The United Kingdom imposed sanctions on ZapchastTrade last November, while Texco FZE fell under EU sanctions in February of this year.
Steel Universe, a Turkish company, took over. According to customs records, shipments to Russia began in August last year. However, volumes increased sixfold to reach $2.5 million between January and March this year.
Thanks to the OCCRP, we discovered that Recep Yildiz is the owner of Steel Universe. We called him to ask about deliveries to Russia. The businessman said he needed to discuss with the Armtеk Group whether there were grounds to respond to our questions. He later texted on Messenger that Steel Universe operates in the Turkish market, adding that the company has no ties to Russia.
And yet, A.P.R. imported a wide range of automotive components from Europe to Russia via a Turkish firm in the first quarter of this year. These components were worth nearly $1.5 million. For example, Steel Universe supplied A.P.R. with several hundred bearings in March this year, the country of origin of which was listed as Italy and Germany. These car parts are classified as dual-use goods and are banned from being exported from Europe to Russia.
Turkey is often used as an intermediary to circumvent Western sanctions due to its convenient location for such operations.
“As an intermediary in this trade with export-controlled goods, you will want a politically stable location, (at least) formally neutral as far as Russian aggression is concerned, has financial institutions that can conduct transactions associated with these dealings, is potentially conveniently geographically located, and has a reputation for shielding such endeavours from transparency. It’s not a surprise that we find the ultimate sellers to Russia of war-critical goods to be largely based in mainland China, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Turkey”, noted Benjamin Hilgenstock, a senior economist at the Kyiv School of Economics and a member of the international working group on sanctions against Russia, in an interview with Buro.
We previously revealed that Vadzim Hrynkevich, co-founder of Armtek, sold the Polish company SP Europe, which operates a large logistics centre near Warsaw. A little-known investor, previously linked to Hrynkevich’s Belarusian assets, took over the auto parts trading business.