In 2024, Russia imported at least 300 tonnes of sanctioned antimony trioxide from Belgium worth over €4.5 million through Turkey, Belarus and Uzbekistan, De Morgen reported, citing research by the Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU). The substance is used as an oxidiser in detonators for ammunition and for treating fabrics that make them invisible to thermal imagers.
According to ESCU, in 2024 Russia imported more than 1,000 tonnes of antimony oxides worth about €16 million. At least 300 tonnes, valued at more than €4.5 million, originated in Belgium, including from Campine NV, while the largest recipient in Russia was Vitakhim, a company that has contracts with ammunition manufacturers and producers of military components.
The EU banned the export of antimony trioxide to Russia in December 2023, as part of a wider ban on “metal oxides that can strengthen Russian industry”. Campine said that after 2023 it had not carried out direct deliveries to Russia and had acted in good faith.
However, after questions from De Morgen, Campine conducted an internal review and discovered that in May 2024 the Uzbek company Market Data Group, owned by a Russian national, ordered 80 tonnes of antimony trioxide from Campine. In correspondence related to this order, the name of the Russian company Vitakhim appeared. The order was placed via a distributor.In July 2024, when Campine itself began to suspect indirect resale, the company introduced mandatory written guarantees for all clients: a ban on exporting products to Russia and Belarus, and an obligation to immediately inform Campine of any resale. For certain orders, the company also began to check the final recipient.
“After sending this letter, we separately asked some distributors about specific orders, whether Russia was the final destination. In the second half of 2024, we also noticed a decrease in sales volumes to certain distributors, which may confirm our suspicion of indirect resale,” Campine CEO Willem De Vos told De Morgen.
“We do not want to launch a witch-hunt against a Belgian company, but we call for an independent investigation by the Belgian authorities and ask customs to monitor such deliveries more closely,” said Olena Yurchenko, ESCU’s Director of Analytics, Research and Investigations. ESCU also submitted its research to EU authorities and proposed including Vitakhim in the next EU sanctions package.
Read the full investigation in De Morgen.