Russian military forces (source: AP/TASR)
Slovak customs officers have allowed the export of goods to companies that supply Russian military contractors, the Denník N daily reported on Friday.
"We do not decide whether goods exported to Russia will or will not be used by the Russian army," the Financial Administration, the main authority overseeing taxes and customs, responded when asked about the exports by Denník N.
Denník N published a list of thousands of goods that Slovak customs officers have allowed to be exported directly to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some of these products, such as bearings, machines to produce tyre parts, and even entire engines, can be used in the manufacture of heavy weaponry. The daily also linked the suppliers of some of these products to producers of Russian military technology.
"The main finding is that during the export approval process, the customs officers probably did not verify if the [exported] goods could be used to produce military technology – that is, if these were dual-use goods, with military as well as civilian applications," the daily wrote.
It is not clear, according to Denník N, that the exporters are actually from Slovakia. The daily notes that EU rules allow customs proceedings to be done in Slovakia even for exporters from other EU countries, upon request.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger said he was verifying the journalists' findings with the defence officials. Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď admitted that he knew about the findings and considered the practice to be a problem. "Once the whole list of supplied items is assessed, we will take appropriate measures," he told Denník N.
The parliamentary committees for defence and security and for finance are being convened for a joint meeting to discuss the issue.
