Spanish police confiscated 13 tons of banned chemicals, including “possible” chemical weapons precursors, bound for Russia despite sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Police said that they had arrested four suspected members of a criminal group believed to have tried to circumvent Western sanctions by illegally supplying chemicals to Russia through a shell company run by “citizens of Russian origin.”

During the investigation, it was found that internationally sanctioned chemicals, some of which are potential precursors for chemical weapons and neurotoxic agents, had been exported in the past through this corporate structure, the national police and the tax authority said in a joint statement.

The statement did not specify the type of chemicals seized during the most recent operation.

The chemicals were found in a container at the port of Barcelona, ​​while the four suspects were arrested in the nearby villages of Sant Feliu de Guixols, Cerdaniola del Valles, and Sant Perpetua de Mogonda. All four face charges of smuggling prohibited products.

The Spanish company had created a sophisticated logistical and financial network to export to Russia chemical products subject to international sanctions, police say.

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How the network worked

The company had a subsidiary in Moscow that eventually received the chemicals, as well as several front companies in countries such as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to hide the true destination of the goods, which were later re-routed to Russia, they added.

The European Union, which has imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow since 2022, said that it was working to crack down on companies selling dual-use goods to Russia through central Asian states to circumvent the sanctions.

The United States and Britain have both accused Russia of violating an international ban on the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, with London imposing sanctions on troops it said were involved in their use.

Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly denied the accusations, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters in May that Moscow remains bound by its obligations under the chemical weapons treaty.

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