Suspected Russian spy sentenced to 5 years in gaol for smuggling military goods

The businessman of Russian heritage settled in Brussels in the early 2000s as the manager of a company trading in machine parts. In 2024, news outlet The Insider, an investigative website specialising in exposing Russian intelligence operations and corruption, revealed that Victor L. had allegedly circumvented the sanctions imposed by the EU on the Russian Federation. It was reported that he supplied goods and products to Russian defence companies via foreign companies.

According to The Insider, Victor L. is believed to be an officer in the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. At the trial, the federal prosecutor’s office confirmed that suspicion. “The investigation has confirmed the information published by The Insider and contained in state security reports,” the prosecutor stated.

Victor L.’s lawyer, Mr Stanislas Eskenazi, denies that his client is a pawn of the Kremlin. ‘The claim that Victor L. is a GRU agent is nothing but nonsense. He is simply a businessman, who sold materials which we believe were entirely legal to sell, even to Russia.’

Whether Victor L. is an officer of the Russian military intelligence service GRU was not investigated by the court. He did, however, have to answer for his role as the leader of a criminal organisation and on charges relating to circumventing import and export restrictions on defence-related products.

According to Belgium’s federal public prosecutor’s office, the investigation revealed that the defendant exported items including pressure-sensitive detectors for explosion control and a measuring device to shadowy companies in countries including Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. “But that was always just a stopover,” the federal deputy public prosecutor's office says. “The actual final destination was Russia.”

Smuggling yttrium oxide

In total, over 400 tonnes of goods and chemical products were involved, but the court ruled that the majority of the acts committed including the transport of aluminium oxide, are not punishable. According to the judge, Victor L. is, however, guilty of smuggling yttrium oxide and pressure-sensitive detectors.

Furthermore, together with a Brussels-based businessman, he forged customs documents in order to conceal the true nature of the exported products or to shift the blame onto others.

Victor L. was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the offences, four of which are to be served. The Brussels businessman was given a three-year suspended prison sentence. However, the heaviest sentence was handed down to Ruslan L., Victor’s son. The man in his thirties, CEO of Moscow-based company Sonatek LLC, is, according to the court, the leader of the criminal organisation alongside his father.

Ruslan L. is currently in the Russian Federation and in absentia was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The court also ordered his immediate arrest.

“Given the international context, the defendants have committed a political offence,” the court stated. “The export of dual-use goods and trade in certain materials with Russia pose a threat to public safety.”

In an initial response, Victor L.’s lawyer said he considers the sentence to be particularly harsh, especially since his client was acquitted of the smuggling of aluminium oxide, which was what triggered the whole case. Investigators had intercepted a shipment of 9 tonnes of aluminium oxide, which was to be smuggled from a warehouse in Liège in eastern Belgium via Germany and Turkey to Russia.

‘My client has only been convicted on account of a few shipments of yttrium oxide and explosion detectors,’ said Mr Stanislas Eskenazi. "We’re talking about a total of four or five shipments. In that context, I consider a five-year prison sentence, one year of which is suspended, to be a very harsh punishment. We’re not talking about weapons here. My client and I will study the judgment and consider whether to lodge an appeal."