Not even a day after the United States of America (USA) put a company from Serbia on the list of sanctions due to technological support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, no one from the Serbian state leadership commented on this case, Radio Free Europe reports.
The almost completely unknown Serbian company MCI Trading from Belgrade has been on the US sanctions list since Thursday for, as stated, material assistance, sponsoring or providing financial, material or technological support to the Russian company AK Microtech from Moscow.
The company AK Microtech, which is now also on the sanctioned list, is accused of providing high-tech equipment to the Russian defense industry. As explained, it is a company specializing in the transfer of foreign technology to Russian companies for the production of microelectronics, including those that provide microelectronics to the Russian defense industry.
According to data from the US Department of the Treasury, Serbian MCI Trading has sent dozens of shipments to the Russian company AK Microtech since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
There is not much public information about the business of this small Belgrade company, which has only three employees.
The name of the company appeared in the "Panama Papers", when the documents of Mossad Fonseka's law office were leaked in 2016, but without any indication of the work done through the offshore zone.
"Panama Papers" represents one of the biggest information leaks that showed the mechanisms of how rich businessmen and politicians launder money and avoid taxes.
MCI Trading was founded in 2006 for the activity of non-specialized wholesale trade. The owner of the company is Miloljub Cvetić, and the director is Ivan Cvetić, who is also on the US sanctions list as of Thursday.
Radio Free Europe (RSE) asked MCI Trading for a comment on the US decision to put it on the list of sanctioned entities, as well as to clarify the cooperation with the Russian AK Microtech, but the answer did not arrive by the time this text was published.
Revenues doubled in 2022
Financial reports show that the MCI Trading company had annual revenues of about one million euros from 2018 to 2021, but sales doubled in 2022, so the income was 2,2 million euros.
In the financial reports from 2022, it is stated that the company had an income of 383.000 euros from the sale of products and services on the foreign market. Most of the exports were to the Russian Federation.
In just six months of this year, exports doubled, so by the end of June, MCI Trading had exports worth 764 thousand euros. Goods worth 244 were exported to Russia, nearly 270 to Latvia, while in third place was exports to the USA worth 236 euros in June of this year.
In the period from 2020 to June 2023, almost all imports were recorded from China, with a value of around three million euros.
In 2022 alone, the company imported products worth 1,4 million euros from this country.
From publicly available sources, it is not possible to determine with which companies in Russia or other countries Belgrade-based MCI trading has export contracts, just as it is not possible to determine which type of product this company trades.
What do we know about the Russian company?
On the other hand, the Russian company AK Microtech was somewhat more active publicly. Before the invasion of Ukraine, it was very active at the electronics fairs in Munich, Ninberg... As they claim for themselves in posts on social networks, they are "one of the most competitive companies in the technology of modern production of products using low-temperature ceramics".
It is a technology used in the production of electronic devices such as infrared sensors, integrated circuits, memory components.
The company was very active in Europe, and its business partner was the Slovenian company KEKO Equipment Ltd.
RSE is from KEKO Equipment Ltd. requested a comment, but by the time the text was concluded, no response had arrived.
By the decision of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky from April of this year, AK Microtech was placed on the list of companies that are prohibited from doing any business in this country.
The general director and owner of AKM is Kohlun Andrej Rostislavovič.
According to publicly available information in Russian public databases, AKM had three signed contracts with the company NM-Tekh in 2022. The largest signed contract between AKM and NM-Tekh was worth over 647 thousand euros and related to the maintenance of installations for the production line of microcomponents, and the contract was signed in March of last year and executed until September.
By the way, NM-Tech is a much larger company that produces electronic microcomponents, and it has been on the OFAC list since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, since February 22, 2022. OFAC then designated two financial institutions that are essential to the financing of the Russian defense industry, as well as 42 of their affiliates.
According to information from the US Department of the Treasury, these financial institutions play a significant role in the Russian economy, holding total assets worth tens of billions of dollars. The technological company NM-Tekh was also designated as one of the 42 branches.
RFE/RL contacted the company AK Microtech by phone and after confirming that they had received that company and asking who could be talked to in connection with the sanctioning of that company, as well as in connection with cooperation with Serbia, it was said that "we got the wrong number and got the wrong information".
After that, RSE sent the questions by e-mail, but the answer did not arrive until the end of the text.
The silence of the Government of Serbia
The Government of Serbia did not respond to RSE's request to comment on the inclusion of a company from Serbia on the US sanctions list. There was also no answer to the question of whether Serbian officials contacted the USA on this occasion.
There was no comment from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS). RSE also asked PKS whether this decision of the US Ministry of Finance could affect future cooperation between Serbian and Russian companies.
Ivan Cvetić, director of another Russian company in Belgrade
Four months ago, the company Beosens was founded in Belgrade, whose activity is the production of electrical components. A few days after its establishment, Ivan Cvetić was appointed director, who is also the director of Belgrade's MCI Trading and has been on the US sanctions list since Thursday.
RSE journalists went to the address at Kondina 13, which Beosens registered with the Business Register Agency. At the reception of a modern office building in the center of Belgrade, they said that the company with that name does not exist at that address.
This company is a daughter of the company Optosens from St. Petersburg, and the board members are three Russian citizens and one Russian citizen who has an Israeli passport.
All Russian representatives in the Beosens company are also in the management of the Russian company Optosens.
RSE also contacted Optosens, but no one answered the phone number on the website, and questions were also sent to them via email. The answer did not arrive until the end of the text.
As stated on their website, two Russian companies, IKO and EMI, decided 10 years ago to collaborate on an innovative project aimed at creating a completely new generation of sensors for the detection of flammable gases.
Today, Optosens is one of the leading manufacturers of optical infrared (NDIR) sensors for the detection of flammable gases for industrial safety in the world.
In the financial report, they state that due to the war in Ukraine, they lost their biggest customer, the company Scout Innovations LLC from Texas, USA.
None of the owners and representatives of this company are on the US, EU or Ukrainian sanctions lists.
Relations between Serbia and Russia
In addition to the company from Serbia, with the latest decision, the USA put nearly 120 individuals and companies mostly from Russia, along with several companies from Kyrgyzstan and one from the United Arab Emirates, on the list of sanctions.
As stated in the explanation, the sanctions were introduced to limit Russia's access to "critical materials" and the international financial system.
This, the statement of the Ministry of Finance adds, is a way for the US to deal with "accomplices in evading and circumventing sanctions".
Although it condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the United Nations, Serbia has not yet joined the Western sanctions against the Russian Federation.
This makes it, along with Turkey, the only country that is a candidate for membership in the European Union that has not harmonized its foreign policy with the community of countries that it is aiming for membership.
Official Belgrade justifies this position by saying that Russia is among the countries that do not recognize Kosovo's independence. Another reason is Serbia's energy dependence on Russia.
Earlier this month, the US put the director of the Security and Information Agency of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, on the list of sanctions for alleged corruption and involvement in drug trafficking, as well as for ties to Russia.
For now, there is no indication from the Serbian leadership that Vulin will be replaced.
What are infrared sensors?
Infrared optical (NDIR) sensors for the detection of flammable gases are widely used in many branches of industry.
In the military industry, they are used to guide missiles and rockets in order to detect the presence of flammable gases in the environment and enable more precise targeting and avoidance of potential dangers.
They are used in military systems for the detection of chemical agents and flammable gases that can be part of chemical weapons as well as for the detection of flammable gases, and they are used in military vehicles, tanks...
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