German company suspected of supplying machine tools to Russia for EUR 5.5 million

The Munich prosecutor's office has conducted searches at the Spinner machine-building company on suspicion of supplying machine tools to Russia. This was reported by German media, in particular Merkur і Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

According to German law enforcement officials, the company circumvented the sanctions by supplying more than 20 high-precision machines to Russia with a total value of about EUR 5.5 million.

Three employees of the company were charged. Searches were also conducted at the company's branches in Stuttgart and Bulgaria. Spinner Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik GmbH also has a production facility in Turkey.

The prosecutor's office refers to a report by Arte TV channel from late April, which traced the export of the Spinner machine in detail. According to the story, the machine was sold to a Russian defense company through third countries, partly with forged documents.

During the investigation, a Spinner machine subject to sanctions restrictions was confiscated in mid-February 2025. According to export documents, it was to be exported in August 2023 from Germany via Poland and Belarus to Uzbekistan.

Investigators suspect that the machine was actually supplied by a Russian company associated with the manufacturer. There is also evidence of possible deliveries through Turkey and China.

In an Arte report, one of the three company managers, Nikolaus Spinner, denied the allegations, claiming that the machine was delivered to an Uzbek agricultural machinery manufacturer. However, the manager of the Uzbek company told reporters that no such purchases had been made.

In September 2023, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine contributed 14 Russian importers of Spinner machines to the list of candidates for international and Ukrainian sanctions.

According to the NACP, another universal German Spinner machine was shipped from a plant in Turkey for the Russian company Sirovsky Mechanical Plant. Russia needs this machine to increase production of high-explosive fragmentation shells for tanks.

On website Spinner has posted a declaration of compliance with sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the company is preparing to introduce GPS tracking of new machines starting in 2025.

• In June 2025, the Russian opposition publication The Insider found at least 12 Czech companies that supplied Russia with returnable for the production of weapons.