FirstFT: Russian spy ring smuggles sensitive EU tech despite sanctions

A Financial Times investigation revealed that a A Russian spy ring managed to smuggle sensitive technology EU companies to fuel Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine despite US-led repression.

The “Serniya Network”, accused by the US Department of Justice of working on “highly sensitive and classified procurement activities” on behalf of the Russian spy agency FSB, has managed to obtain machine tools from Germany and Finland despite US sanctions imposed in March 2022.

Other customers of the network – set up to buy goods ranging from microchips to ammunition – include the Kremlin’s foreign intelligence service, known as SVR; the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec; the Russian Defense Ministry; and Rosatom, the national atomic energy company in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

The FT found that a Moscow-registered company, controlled by the same person who controls a Serniya network entity described by the United States as “engaged in proliferation activities under the direction of Russian intelligence”, continued to purchase items from companies in the EU. , acquiring $900,000 worth of hardware, including microchips, since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Here’s what else is happening today:

• Interest rate: The US Federal Reserve is expected to deliver another quarter point increasebring rates back to a target range of 5% to 5.25%, the highest level since mid-2007.

• Results: Report Airbus, Aston Martin Lagonda, BNP Paribas, Enel, Estée Lauder, Kraft Heinz, Lufthansa, Ørsted, Porsche and Qualcomm. See the full list in our Week Ahead newsletter.

• Economic data : The UK releases revisions to its 2022 Gross Domestic Product figures in the Blue Book, the EU and Italy have unemployment figures in March and S&P Global releases its Services Purchasing Managers Index for UNITED STATES.

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Five other top stories

1. Britain’s financial regulator is set to propose sweeping changes to the country’s listing regime today, including the removal of rules that require a shareholder vote on transactions between UK-listed companies and ‘related parties’. Find out more about the Financial Conduct Authority’s projects.

2. Shares of U.S. regional banks continued to fall despite the First Republic bailout, shares of PacWest closed down 27.8% yesterday after being briefly halted for volatility and Western Alliance down 15.1%. Both banks have drawn attention due to their similarities to Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.

3. Education stocks fell sharply after Chegg warned that interest in ChatGPT was beginning to hurt its sales. Shares of the edtech company plunged by half yesterday, and the earnings warning rattled off from other companies, including Pearson, Duolingo, and Udemy.

4. Harvey Schwartz held extensive reviews at the Carlyle Group after taking over as CEO in an effort to portray himself as an attentive listener, contrary to his reputation as a corporate killer at Goldman Sachs. But few believe listening sessions will last much longer.

5. Refurbished iPhones increase Apple’s share in Indian market, accounting for 11% of secondary smartphone sales in the country last year, up from 3% in 2021. Business intelligence group Counterpoint Research said this made the iPhone the “fastest growing refurbished brand in india”.

The big read

In recent weeks, more than a dozen politicians, activists, judges, trade unionists and a leading independent publisher have been arrested in Tunisia in what Amnesty International has described as a “hunt for politically motivated witches. Here’s how President Kais Saied, who staged a 2021 power grab, is dismantling of the country’s young democracy.

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Card of the day

European investment in China’s auto sector has peaked record of 6.2 billion euros last year as the companies tried to claw back market share from ascendant Chinese electric vehicle makers.

Take a break from the news

Linton Kwesi Johnson”came to poetry through politics” amid global winds of change, including the civil rights movement and colonial wars in sub-Saharan Africa. The Jamaican-born poet and activist talks about the British imperialist mentality and his five-decade journey in poetry in an interview with the FT.

Additional contributions from Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg