Russia circumvents sanctions to obtain spare parts for the sanctioned fleet

Russia has created a global network that allows the country to receive spare parts for Finnish company Wärtsilä engines through intermediaries, despite Western sanctions.

In 2023-2025, Russia received parts from Wärtsilä worth about 6 million euros. The Finnish company’s products are also used by vessels of the so-called “shadow fleet,” according to the Yle investigation.

One of the key intermediaries is Arnika Trade LLC, located on the outskirts of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The company sent spare parts for Wärtsilä engines worth more than 1 million euros to Russia. The countries of origin include, in particular, China, the UAE, India and even the Maldives.

Arnika’s only client is the Russian company Elite Shipping, which, in turn, cooperates with Prime Shipping, one of the largest Russian carriers of oil and oil products.

The network created by Russia includes dozens of intermediary companies. Almost 60 Russian companies have purchased Wärtsilä spare parts since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine. There are more than a hundred sellers, most of them from China, the UAE and Turkey.

According to Yle, Wärtsilä engines are installed on at least 30 ships from the EU sanctions list. The total number may be higher, as there are up to two thousand such ships, according to various estimates.

“Russia has long shown a special interest in Wärtsilä parts. An article in the Russian publication Neftegaz claims that Russia’s largest shipowner Sovcomflot has been developing plans to purchase Wärtsilä products in circumvention of sanctions,” the investigation says.

Wärtsilä’s director of corporate and legal affairs, Nora Steiner-Forsberg, told Yle that the company takes sanctions seriously, but there are market participants who circumvent them.

Wärtsilä withdrew from the Russian market shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, and the company does not want its products to be sold to Russia. The company’s contracts include a clause that prohibits customers from further exporting products to Russia. At the same time, Steiner-Forsberg did not want to comment on whether Wärtsilä has taken action against any customers for violating the terms of the contract.

Read also: Russian oil production fell below OPEC quota due to sanctions, — Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence.