(Adnkronos) – Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Rolls Royce, as if nothing had happened. Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, almost four years ago, 214 luxury cars worth a total of approximately 75 million euros have been illegally imported into Russia, circumventing European and British sanctions, reveals an investigation conducted by TriTrace open sources, whose results were relaunched by the Ukrainian platform United Media 24. The cars arrived in Russia from third countries including EU countries, but also Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, but there have also been direct exports from EU countries to Russia, including the export of Maserati cars or even a Bentley delivered directly to Crimea.
Half of the transactions were paid in euros or dollars, thus passing through the Western banking system. This makes such purchases traceable. The main Russian client was Avtodom, which accounts for almost half of the imported cars. Other intermediaries include Shtern, Tochnye Postavki, Avtobuy, and Premium Source. The EU had introduced the so-called ‘No Russia Clause’ in 2024, a measure that requires exporters to explicitly prohibit the resale of goods to Russia in contractual clauses.
