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Siemens turbine production in Berlin (photo from 2010)

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Gas turbines for Crimea despite embargo: After years of investigation, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office has charged five Siemens employees with allegedly selling four gas turbines worth 111 million euros for two new power plants in Crimea. A spokesman for the Reuters news agency said this.

At the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016, the gas turbines were shipped from Hamburg to Saint Petersburg. The defendants, four Germans and a Swiss-French citizen, are said to have known that the turbines were intended for the annexed peninsula and thus violated the Crimean embargo. “Wirtschaftswoche” first reported on the indictment.

The Hamburg regional court has not yet decided whether to admit the charges. Crimea is part of Ukraine, but has been occupied by Russia since 2014. That's why it is subject to sanctions; exporting there also violates the foreign trade law. According to a Siemens spokesman, the five accused deny the allegations.

At that time, the gas turbine division still belonged to Siemens AG, for which one of the defendants still works. The division, which was operated in Russia together with the local Power Machines, later ended up with Siemens Energy. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, the joint venture was sold.

Perpetrator or victim?

Siemens sees itself as a victim of its Russian customer Technopromexport (TPE) in the affair. The spokesman for Siemens AG said that it was learned in 2016 and 2017 that several gas turbines destined for Taman in southern Russia were to be "transported to Crimea by the Russian contractual partner in violation of the contract and without Siemens' knowledge or intention." Siemens tried to defend itself against this, but was unable to penetrate Russia.

According to the spokesman, the public prosecutor's office has also been informed about the events and will continue to support the authorities in the investigation. Siemens Energy said it had cooperated with investigators since gaining independence in 2020 and would continue to do so.

hba/Reuters