A German logistics company has exploited gaps in European postal and customs rules to move sanctioned goods from Germany to Russia, undermining the EU’s effort to choke off supplies to Moscow, according to a new investigative report by Politico. 

LS Logistics Solution GmbH, a Cologne-based firm founded and staffed in part by former employees of the former German subsidiary of Russia’s postal service, runs a parcel network from a warehouse near Berlin’s Brandenburg airport to destinations in Moscow and St. Petersburg via Poland and Belarus, according to the report. 

Despite EU trade restrictions, LS Logistics promotes itself with advertisements across Russian supermarkets throughout Germany as a logistics company that specializes in moving packages into Russia. In reality, the firm is part of a “clandestine Berlin-based postal service” that exploits the special status of postal parcels to facilitate shipments for its German clients, including the transport of banned electronics components, Politico said. 

The news agency sent and tracked five test packages containing unusable but banned electronic components from Berlin supermarkets through the company’s network and into Russia, a route of about 1,100 miles. The parcels were labeled as being handled by Uzbekistan’s state postal service, UzPost, which Politico said is not authorized to operate in Germany.

The test shipments benefited from the lighter customs treatment given to international postal items, which are checked largely on a risk basis rather than through full export procedures, according to the report. That distinction allowed the packages to leave the European Union and pass through Belarus despite sanctions aimed at restricting such trade, Politico reported.

LS Logistics told Politico that its internal controls made violations of EU sanctions “virtually impossible,” but said it could not prevent customers from falsely declaring the contents of packages.

German regulators are reviewing the case and could pursue penalties if LS is found to have used Uzbek postal documentation without authorization. Politico said the findings highlight the difficulty European authorities face in enforcing sanctions as Russia and its intermediaries adapt routes and methods to keep goods flowing.

Read more at Politico