German authorities carried out raids across the country in connection with exports to Russia in violation of EU sanctions, they said on Monday.

Five men were apprehended in and around the northern city of Lübeck, near Hamburg. Apartments in other German cities, including Frankfurt and Nuremberg, were also searched.

According to the authorities, the value of the illegally exported goods was at least €30 million ($35.6 million).

They are suspected of having run a network of shell firms to supply the Russian defense industry since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, bypassing EU sanctions.

It is believed that Russian state agencies are behind the network, with 24 defense companies receiving around 16,000 deliveries from the network.

Who are the 5 arrested?

German, Russian and Ukrainian nationals were among those arrested, with the main suspect being the owner of a business in Lübeck, partially identified as German-Russian dual national Nikita S. 

"Since at least the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, he and the other accused used the company on numerous occasions to clandestinely procure goods for Russian industry and export them to Russia," prosecutors said.

"To conceal the transactions, the accused used at least one other shell company in Lübeck, sham customers in and outside the European Union, and a Russian company as a recipient, in which Nikita S. also holds a position of responsibility," they said in a statement.

Prosecutors did not detail what goods were allegedly illegally exported.

Edited by: Elizabeth Shumacher, Jenipher Camino Gonzalez