According to the sources of Channel 24 among Ukrainian carriers, a Polish company founded by a Ukrainian woman is apparently used for the transportation of dual-use goods to Russia, or at least at a certain stage of the journey. We are talking about Maryna Malyarenko, who owns the Warsaw-registered company Alesco tsl sp. z o. o. She mistakenly posted a consignment note in the chat of the carrier community, which indicates that Bosch allegedly imports dual-use goods to Russia, which are used in the manufacture of military equipment.

According to the document, Robert Bosch Saratov LLC ordered 20 tons of aluminum oxide from another German manufacturer, Nabaltec AG, a chemical substance that is part of dual-purpose goods.

The product can be used in the oil refining, chemical and automotive industries

The bill of lading states that the Ukrainian company Alesco was engaged in the transportation of 20 pallets of the substance NABALOX® NO 105-71 RA by order of the Russian branch of Bosch.


CMR for the transportation of aluminum oxide to the order of the Russian branch of Bosch / Photo from Yuriy Marchuk's Facebook

In the code of the product being transported, the European Customs Classifier 28182000 is indicated, which corresponds to aluminum oxide.


Customs classifier of the European model / Screenshot from the European customs portal

In Russia, aluminum oxide has the classifier 281820000 and is included in the list of dual purpose goods. Experts say that the last digits of the classification may differ in individual countries, which is why an additional 0 is indicated in Russia.


Aluminum oxide can be used to create weapons and military equipment / Screenshot from the IFCG website

According to an official Bosch release dated March 18, 2022, the company was expected to curtail the supply and production of products that can be used by the Russians for "non-civilian" purposes. This was also written by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who noted that Bosch should leave the Russian market.

Shortly before that, in an official letter from the company to ex-minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Dmytro Dubilet, Bosch indicated that they stopped accepting applications from Russian car manufacturers and stopped supplying products to them.

Already in July of this year, a branch of the German giant began to order materials needed for production in Russia.

So, the loading of the products needed by the Germans in Russia took place on July 29 in Schwandorf, Germany. After that, the tractor and trailer with numbers WGM 5145C/WGM2378P took the cargo to the Polish warehouse.

According to the carrier Yuriy Marchuk, who described the situation on his Facebook, the owner of Alesco could not have known that the recipient of the cargo was a company registered in Russia, because the documents indicated the address of the final delivery of the goods - the city of Engels, Saratov region. "Robert Bosch Saratov" LLC is registered at this address.

Moreover, most likely, it is not about the production of household appliances at all, because this branch of the German giant specializes in the production of auto components.


The customer of the cargo "Robert Bosch Saratov" is engaged in the production of automotive products / Screenshot from the SBYS portal

According to data from open registers, the sole founder of Robert Bosch Saratov LLC is the German company Robert Bosch GmbH, which owns a share in the amount of 104,774,000 Russian rubles, which is 100% of the authorized capital of the Russian company.


The owner of the Russian company is the German company Bosch / Screenshot from the SBYS portal

Thus, the Russian company, which is fully owned by the German company Bosch, purchases dual-purpose goods from the German company Nabaltec AG. In particular, the last known delivery was made on July 29, 2022, despite the sanctions imposed by the European Union.

We know from open sources that Bosch products were installed on Russian military equipment. According to item 0С002 of the single list of dual-use goods, the product under code 281820000 (aluminum oxide) is exactly such a product. It is clear that the Polish customs officials would not allow the sanctioned products to Russia, but we do not know for the manufacture of which parts the German company ordered this goods. It cannot be ruled out that it is about the so-called buisness as usual, and the Germans simply continue to help Russia, doing it in roundabout ways,
- employees of the Ukrainian customs service said in a comment to Channel 24.

Also, it is quite likely that Bosch, despite all the promises, is resuming its activities in Russia, or is importing for Putin the goods necessary for the manufacturing of military equipment.

Moreover, the director of Robert Bosch Saratov LLC is German citizen Richter Werner Bernhard. His company in 2021 officially received 249 million rubles of net income. Of course, from this amount, the company paid a significant amount of taxes to the aggressor country, which, in particular, was transformed into tanks, artillery and armored vehicles that kill Ukrainians every day.


The amount of income of the company "Robert Bosch Saratov" for 2021 / Screenshot from the SBYS portal

The editors of Channel 24 turned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy for a comment on the possible transportation of dual purpose goods from Germany to Russia. Both departments promised to check the information and respond appropriately.

A familiar story for Germans

Expert analyst Borys Kushniruk notes that the story of bypassing sanctions for Bosch is not new. According to him, the Germans "do not suffer from big complexes". However, checking whether Russia uses Bosch parts in military equipment should be done by relevant structures. This is a matter of intelligence.

The only thing that Ukraine can do is to express protests about this, as well as to transfer information to the USA, since the Americans are critical of such things,
- the economist believes.

In addition, according to the expert, Russia uses the so-called parallel import to import prohibited goods through intermediaries. However, when it comes to dual-use items, Bosch has an obligation to control the end customer. Therefore, in this case, there are reasons to demand sanctions against this company.

According to Kushniruk, the reputational component may not be very important for the Germans. At the same time, when criminal cases are initiated in connection with this, financial issues will follow - this is another matter.

The only mechanism is for the Ukrainian side to provide maximum publicity that Bosch can continue activities aimed at killing Ukrainian citizens. There must be some sanctions pressure through the German government,
– emphasized Kushniruk.

The economist emphasized that publicity should be through diplomatic channels and appeals to NATO countries. We need to convey the idea that NATO countries are helping us to stop Russia, while German companies are helping the aggressor.