The Kymenlaakso district court did not find the 47-year-old man's claims about the export via Russia to Georgia credible.
Ammunition A Finnish and Russian dual citizen who smuggled into Russia has received a suspended prison sentence at the Kymenlaakso district court.
At the end of January, the court sentenced a 47-year-old man to eight months of conditional imprisonment for the crime of regulation, aggravated regulation crime and the crime of exporting defense equipment.
In August 2022, a man was caught at the customs of Vaalimaa when he tried to take bullets, shell casings and a sniper rifle intended for military use to Russia hidden in the structures of his car. He claimed to have hidden ammunition from the Russian authorities.
HS told about the man's ammunition export in December.
District court according to the report, the man had bought bullets and casings and other ammunition from Finland for a total of more than 55,000 euros and exported them to Russia between April and August 2022. For example, the man had exported a total of more than 70,000 bullets to Russia.
The man had also taken one Schmidt & Bender scope to Russia, which the European Union has classified as specially designed for military use and thus as a defense accessory. In addition, a Schmidt & Bender scope that was just on its way to Russia was found in the man's car during the Customs search.
The man said that in St. Petersburg Marat-a man named had paid him a commission of 20 percent for bullets and casings and ten percent for other products. According to the court's calculations, the man had thus accumulated at least 10,000 euros in criminal profit.
The court considered that the man had sought considerable financial gain and had acted in a particularly planned manner.
The man denied that he had committed a crime and claimed that it was an authorized transit export through Russia to Georgia.
However, earlier in the interrogation, the man had said that Marat, who received the ammunition, is the director of the shooting sports center in the village of Sertolovo Pesotshny near St. Petersburg. The large Nevsky shooting sports center is located in Pesochny.
The dual citizen also claimed to have verified the legality of the export of ammunition from the Finnish police. This was denied by the police.
The man had already been sentenced to prison in Finland in 2011 for economic crimes in his business activities, but he had fled from serving the sentence to Russia. An international wanted notice was issued for him, which expired in 2021.
In court, a Finnish acquaintance of the man's 21-year acquaintance, who had planned to start importing wheat flour from Georgia through Russia in 2022 in cooperation with a dual citizen, was heard as a witness in court. According to the acquaintance, there was nothing suspicious about the man's plans.
District court the judgment is not yet final. However, the man tells HS that he is not going to appeal the sentence.
“It's pointless nowadays. That's life,” the man messages HS on WhatsApp.
The man contacted HS to offer his services in Russia so that he could pay off the compensation ordered by the district court. HS refused the offer.
The man was owed a total of nearly 20,000 euros. He was sentenced to forfeit 10,000 euros to the state as the financial benefit of the crime. In addition, he has to pay defense attorneys' fees and travel expenses of almost 9,000 euros.
The Schmidt & Bender binoculars found in the man's car were forfeited to the state.
The man told HS that he is now staying in Russia and waiting until the border opens again. His permanent residence is in St. Petersburg, where he has said that he runs a travel agency.
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