In Germany, customs officers simultaneously conducted several searches in the framework of their investigation into the illegal export of dual-use chemicals to Russia.

According to the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), searches were carried out on a network of companies suspected of selling precursor chemicals to Russia.

These precursor chemicals can be used to produce chemical and biological weapons.

On Tuesday, 50 officers searched seven properties in several German federal states on suspicion of illegal exports to Russia.

“There is a suspicion of illegal export of goods to Russia,” said Stade chief prosecutor Kai Thomas Breas.

Law enforcement officers operated in Bremen, Bremerhaven, Osterholz district in Lower Saxony and Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg.

The prosecutor’s office declined to comment in detail.

But according to investigative documents released to OCCRP, a key German company, Riol Chemie GmbH, made more than 30 shipments of chemicals and laboratory equipment to Russia’s Himmed group of companies over the past three and a half years without export permits.

“Himmed” is a wholesaler of such goods, and Russian media reported that its customers include the military and special services.

Documents relating to the investigation, obtained as part of a joint investigation involving NDR, Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Süddeutsche Zeitung, allege that Riol Chemie GmbH supplied chemicals that could be used to make weapons, including mustard gas.

The documents say investigators are looking into the potential sale of a precursor to Novichok, the nerve agent used in the 2018 assassination attempt in Britain of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian agent who spied for Britain.

Russian procurement documents obtained by OCCRP showcase that Russia’s Chimmed Group contracted with the FSB’s Forensic Institute in 2016.

Russian corporate registry records obtained by OCCRP indicate further links between Riol Chemie GmbH and Himmed.

In 2021, the USA introduced sanctions against a number of companies from the Russian Federation and Germany.

Among the Russian companies on the list are the 27th Scientific Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the companies “Himmed“, “Femteko”, “Interlab”, “Labinvest”, “Analyt Products”, “Intertek Instruments”, Pharmcontract, Rau Farm and “Regionsnab”.

Among the German companies: ChimConnect GmbH, Pharmcontract and Riol-Chemie, as well as one company from Switzerland – ChimConnect AG.

The blacklist provides for the introduction of additional licensing requirements for the export, re-export and transfer of technology to these companies.