Despite sanctions, elite cars from Europe are still being imported into Russia, according to the Financial Times.

Russian smugglers are charging tens of thousands of euros for the import of luxury cars from Europe, as EU sanctions implemented in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine have impacted wealthy Russians.

According to an article by Financial Times.

The publication identified five Russian companies offering to smuggle cars from Europe with engine sizes that fall under EU sanctions imposed in 2022 as part of a ban on the export of luxury goods to Russia.

For instance, an advertisement from the Russian importer AvtoImport on the site Auto.ru features a BMW 530 d M Sport priced at $68,200. The photo indicates that the car is still located in Germany. As of mid-December, this vehicle was still listed for €31,900 on the German seller Autopartner BGL's website.

“Advertisements published in Russia do not concern us,” said a representative of Autopartner BGL, confirming that the car was still in Germany and had not yet been sold at that time.

FT discovered over 50 luxury cars from 25 different German dealerships on the Russian website Auto.ru, which Russian importers were offering with an average markup of about €19,000.

Smugglers often claim that the cars will be sent to a third country. For example, FT tracked a black Mercedes-Benz S350 that was sold in January 2024 to a Kyrgyz taxi company by the German dealer Kessler & Haag, and by March it was registered in Moscow as a taxi.

The supply of European cars to Russia continues despite EU sanctions aimed at weakening Moscow's war machine and provoking discontent with the regime.

After the EU tightened restrictions on the import of luxury goods via Belarus in July, smugglers have been using longer and more expensive routes to deliver cars.

A sales representative from AvtoImport told an FT journalist posing as a potential buyer that cars from Germany are now transported “not through Belarus, but through Turkey, Georgia, and then to Russia.”

“Exporting cars from Europe has become extremely complicated,” he added. According to him, it is now cheaper and faster to transport premium German cars through South Korea, which has imposed “minimal” sanctions against Russia.

For about 30,000 rubles, he added, one can reconfigure the onboard systems of the car from Korean to Russian.

A customs officer from one of the Baltic countries confirmed that suspicious export shipments of cars from Germany have decreased following the update of sanctions against Belarus.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that Chinese automaker Zeekr had prohibited dealers from the PRC, who collaborate with Russian companies, from selling premium electric vehicles of this brand in Russia after June 30.