Finland plays an important role in the export of cars to Russia, says Russian car dealer DeLux-Auto Logistics.
Linda Söderlund,
Linus Lång,
Axel Rappe
‘s research showed that luxury cars are exported to Russia via Finland in violation of EU sanctions.
Finland’s role is also acknowledged by the Russian car seller DeLux-Auto Logistics, whose representative answered ‘s questions by email. The company operated in the city of Tomsk in Siberia.
The person who answered the email seemed amused when a Western journalist asks about the sanctions.
“You have to understand that Western sanctions are not an obstacle to business, they only temporarily complicate the logistics process. Finland has always played an important role as a transit country, the logistics are well-established, all documents were received quickly and without problems”, wrote the representative of DeLux-Auto Logistics in his email.
The car salesman used a metaphor to explain how sanctions work: sanctions are like big stones on the road.
“Try to fill a stream with several large stones – the stream will still find its way, even if it has to split into small streams or go underground.”
Swedish car dealers participate in the export of cars to Russia
The MOT program shows how a blue BMW X3 and a white Lexus RX350 were transported through Finland to Tomsk, Siberia. DeLux-Auto Logistics later published the Lexus sale announcement on the Russian car website drom.ru.
On the same day, DeLux-Auto Logistics also published an advertisement for a red Toyota Hilux. Toyota has probably been involved in the same car transport as Lexus and BMW.
According to Drom.ru’s ad, the Toyota was imported from Germany. The car originally came from Sweden, where the car changed owners quickly.
At the end of last year, Toyota managed to have four different car dealerships as owners in just two weeks.
DeLux-Auto Logistics will not answer further questions about Toyota or why they have incorrect information in the sales announcement.
“We are very sorry to lose our friend in Finland”
The Russian DeLux-Auto Logistics writes that it has stopped importing cars directly from the EU, USA and Canada for the time being.
According to the company, they have been importing cars since 2007. Over the years, they gained valuable contacts that helped them with logistics in many countries.
“We tried to choose the best delivery methods in terms of speed and price.”
DeLux-Auto Logistics now buys new cars from other countries instead, and through them it is still possible to get hold of European car brands.
“We are very sorry to lose our former partners and friends in Europe, including in Finland. Sanctions make mutually beneficial relations more difficult,” writes DeLux-Auto Logistics.
See MOT: Car smuggling to Russia from Areena. The program can also be viewed in Swedish.
You can comment on the article until Wednesday at 23:00.