Spanish police have seized 13 tonnes of banned chemicals, including “possible” chemical weapons precursors, which were destined for Russia despite sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, they said. Tuesday.

Police said they had arrested four suspected members of a criminal network they said was trying to circumvent Western sanctions by illegally supplying chemicals to Russia through a front company run by “citizens of Russian origin.”

“During the investigation, it was proven that internationally sanctioned chemicals, some of which may be chemical weapons precursors or nerve agents, had been exported in the past through this corporate structure,” said the national police and the tax administration in a joint statement.

The press release did not specify which chemicals were seized during the latest operation.

The chemicals were found in a container at the port of Barcelona, ​​while the four suspects were arrested in the neighboring villages of Sant Feliu de Guixols, Cerdanyola del Valles and Santa Perpetua de Mogoda. They face charges of sustained smuggling of prohibited goods.

The Spanish company had set up a sophisticated logistics and financial network to export internationally sanctioned chemicals to Russia, police said.

The company had a subsidiary in Moscow that ultimately received the chemicals, as well as several front companies in countries like Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to mask the true destination of the goods, which were then rerouted to Russia, they said. -they added.

The European Union, which has imposed draconian sanctions on Moscow since 2022, said it was making great progress in cracking down on companies selling dual-use goods to Russia via Central Asian states to circumvent sanctions. .

The United States and Britain have both accused Russia of violating the international ban on the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, with London imposing sanctions on troops they say were involved in their use.

However, Russia has repeatedly denied the accusations, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters in May that Moscow remained bound by its obligations under the treaty banning chemical weapons.