Media: Despite sanctions equipment from Finland is used at the construction of the Kerch Bridge
Equipment from Finland was discovered at the Kerch Bridge bridges is being built by Russia from the mainland to the annexed Crimea, PSB News website reports. The site shows a video of a hydrohammer produced by a Finnish company that is used at the construction of the bridge.
The Finnish equipment is being utilized by the Russian firm Mostootryad-125, a branch of Mostotrest, which is the largest heavy construction company in Russia. It is noted that the above mentioned equipment, a Junttan Powerpack 30CCU, is the most powerful of its type and looks absolutely new.
Ukrainian activists also managed to find information regarding the supply of equipment for the illegal construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait in December 2016. It was carried out by the Crimean leasing company, Genleasing LLC (its General Director is Vitaly Kosenko).
Most likely, the company was created in order to bypass the sanctions restrictions. Particularly interesting is the bookmark "partners" on the website of this organization. They offer supplies of goods produced by U.S. and European companies to the annexed Crimea.
The financing for the transaction for the supply of equipment for the bridge construction is carried out by Genbank JSC (which is under sanctions imposed by the United States and Ukraine). The bank is just an intermediary designed for work in the Crimea, it is refinanced through other banks. The web site reports that the activists sent a request to the Finnish company for explanations.
The EU expanded its sanctions list against Russia due to the scandal surrounding the supply of Siemens turbines to the annexed Crimea. As a result, the Deputy Energy Minister of Russia, Andrei Cherezov, the head of the department of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Grabchak, and the General Director of Technopromexport, Sergey Topor-Gilka, found themselves in the sanctions list.
Earlier Reuters reported that two Siemens turbines had arrived in the port of the annexed Sevastopol for use at a future power plant. On July 6th, Siemens declared that it did not supply turbines to the Crimea, and the next day it announced the creation of a working group that would investigate the incident. In late July, the Russian company Technopromexport, which had purchased the turbines produced by Siemens, confirmed that it upgraded them and sent them to the Crimea.