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10 Dark But Forgotten Parts of World War I
John Wayne’s departure for a three week
tour in Vietnam in the Spring of 1966 was just
what you’d expect from old Duke’s modest
sense of deprecatory humor, when he told
reporters, “I can’t sing or dance, but I can
sure shake a lot of hands and share a bunch
of cold beers with our boys there.”
He did just that, then stayed another four
weeks on his own dime and time. Therein is
the real story of John Wayne in Vietnam.
Hollywood lore is the stuff of legend, especially when it involves iconic actor John Wayne, best known for
playing macho soldiers or western characters in more than 250 films
before his death in 1979. However, his real-life military involvement is
what had people talking in 1966 during the height of the Vietnam War.
Thanks to the USO’s tireless efforts, celebrities have visited and
cheered American soldiers since 1941. However, Wayne’s visit was
different. The U.S. Department of Defense contracted Wayne for the
three-week tour of Vietnam. According to Wayne, he would be “going
around the hinterlands to give the boys some personal support.”
John Wayne’s Vietnam tour had three missions.
One was his good
will visit to cheer American combat troops and their wounded, plus
some serious fact-finding for a movie he had in mind. Also, he
believed in the political necessity of the war.
Wayne said, “It is important that we keep our word on treaties to
protect our allies, a universally unpopular view in peace-loving, pink
Hollywood.”
He felt so strongly about this that he said it was his duty to make a film
that showed why the war was needed. He said that his planned film,
The Green Berets, was “anti-Communist, pro-Saigon and prompted
by the American Left’s anti-war sentiment.”
It was the only major Hollywood film to support the war effort.
Wayne’s son, Patrick, told me of his father’s Vietnam experiences,
“To make a truly realistic, authentic film, My father said he needed
to go to Vietnam personally and meet with the real combat soldiers
who were literally sometimes face to face with the enemy on their
turf….and gain their first-hand experiences. He wanted this film
to feature the Army’s Special Forces guys, the early Marines in
Vietnam and their role in the war…and he wanted to get it right.”
John Wayne’s in-country education began in the spring of 1966,
at age 59, with a visit to the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines at Chu Lai,
where he shook a lot of hands, passed out a lot of good will, cold
beer and also came away with a lot of good Marine field craft.
For the rest of his tour, though, Wayne visited the Army’s Special Forces (SF) camps, especially the ones out in the boonies, far away from REMF Central.
Former SF SSG John E Padgett recalled, “When an SF camp began
construction, the first priority was a strong defensive perimeter. The
very next priority was a heavily fortified team house/club from which
planning and missions originated, often accompanied by copious
supplies of Carlings Black Label and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers. This
was also the guest house for our few welcomed visitors.”
Retired SFC Ken Richter recalled Wayne’s time at the 5th Special
Forces Group, Detachment A-219, Mike Force, Pleiku, saying, “I
remember him in the C-2 bar one evening saying he hoped he could
witness us SF guys kicking Charlie’s ass. He got his wish.”
After his discharge, SFC Richter worked for Wayne as dive master on
his boat, working on a charitable discovery and salvage assignment
for Stanford University. He adds, “John Wayne was a true patriot and
his boat was full of memorabilia from various military units.”
Wayne’s boat, a World War II minesweeper he bought and converted into his private yacht, was named The Wild Goose.
It was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Speaking of WWII, there has always been a persistent myth that John
Wayne dodged the wartime draft, which he did not do. He was classified as 3A (head of family) in 1942. In 1943, he requested a change to 1A, which was turned down, through backdoor politics by Republic Pictures.
He persisted and in May of 1944, was re-classified as l-A. Republic Pictures intervened openly against Wayne’s wishes and got his classification changed to 2-A (support of national
interest) in August of 1944.
Some insiders, including family, said that
he always felt guilty about not serving in
WWII and that is what drove him to be so
personally up front about Vietnam.
Thus, John Wayne made stops at Nui
Ba Den to visit the men of A-324 B and
Detachment C-3 at Bien Ha. His stated
goal to his Saigon minders was to spend
time with most of the A and B teams in the
III Corps, soaking up SF background and
accuracy for his film and hoping to boost
the morale of these warriors.
By June 1966, already past his scheduled
departure time, Wayne made layovers at
Throng Toi and An Lang, where he gathered real and hard experience from the
warriors of A-425. Officers, NCOs and EM
debriefed him on their mission, operational
area and the enemy situation. He was also
shown how the new camp was set up,
including its defenses.
“This was not an easy visit for us,” recalled
former SGT John McGovern, who was one
of Wayne’s guides there. McGovern, a Psy
Ops NCO, recalls, “He wanted to go where
the action was, far away from the flagpole
and the safer sites. Our S-2 knew that the
other side knew he was there and we knew
what a coup it would be if the Cong could
kill the great John Wayne.”
One of Wayne’s guides was SGT Leroy Scott, who told how Wayne’s
helicopter was headed into a Special Forces camp near Pleiku in
the middle of some heavy incoming action, and were warned to
abort landing when two rounds smacked the Huey. SGT Scott adds,
“An immediate 180 occurred.”
This was a larger problem, too, as there was documented intel
that the Republic of North Vietnam’s Soviet mentors, the GRU and
Spetnetz, had already planted the propaganda benefits of Wayne’s
chopper being shot down, his jeep blown up or for a sniper to pick
him off.
John Wayne spent time under fire at the wire plus in the OPs and
LPs. And, of course, he chowed down with the guys. But not every
day in Vietnam was a picnic. Stories abound about the “close calls”
Wayne had. One report mentioned that a Viet Cong sniper’s bullet
narrowly missed him, hitting the ground 50 feet behind him. Wayne
Beer in hand and in his rarely seen reading glasses, The Duke visited the fighting men at SF a Team
323 at Camp Trai Bi in June of ’66. (Jari Salo)
It was a welcoming Jeep delivery of Wayne from the chopper pad at Plei Djerang, with Capt John Kai,
camp CO, at the wheel. Passengers were chopper crew, PIO officer, C-2 officer and The Duke. (Don Briere)
later said to film historian Michael Munn in 1974, “I almost walked
into a sniper’s bullet that had my name on it. I heard the wind of the
bullet whistle past my ear and realized I had had a narrow escape.”
He added later to family members, “Those tough kids of ours over
there have narrow escapes every day, God bless ‘em, ‘cause sometimes they can’t escape getting hit.”
Fortunately, wherever John Wayne would go, for the most part,
good times rode along. From all reports, he had a true and sincere
knack for putting soldiers at ease by signing autographs, taking pictures of them and happily posing for pictures with the guys.
Young Marines called him SGT Stryker, his character’s name in his classic
WWII film, The Sands of Iwo Jima. Men from out of the way firebases threw parties and barbecues in his honor. All agreed that
John Wayne knew how to party and how to work.
4 Sentinel | November 2020
“When he visited us, he brought in both ice
and beer, so we started the day with an
ice chest of cold American beer,” recalled
Retired MAJ John Hyatt, of Wayne’s visit
to A-219. “It was empty when we returned
home at the end of the day.”
Then a first lieutenant with the 281st AHC,
flying support missions for 5th SF units, John
Hyatt recalls John Wayne’s visit to Det C-3,
Bien Hoa, in June. “We had just put A-323 on
the ground at Trai Bi, Tay Ninh, and were taking sporadic fire on the perimeter, and there goes The Duke out to join some of the team
on the line. Helluva man.”
Interestingly, two years later, John Hyatt was at Ft. Rucker flying a camera ship to film some of the scenes for The Green Berets.
Even though Wayne was offered VIP treatment, he visited very remote Special Forces camps, unlike many celebrities, who stayed
comfortable in safer urban zones.
The few others who joined the field troops included
brave USO visitors, the wonderful Donut
Dollies, and the heroic Martha Raye. One of the more amazing “John Wayne in Vietnam” stories centers around the SF A-251 camp at Plei Djereng.
As Wayne made his stop there in June, the camp
allegedly came under attack. Supposedly, everyone was returning fire, including Wayne, who was on an M-60, according to
the tales, which the Internet grew taller than
The Duke himself. Someone was quoted on
at least two blogs saying, “I’m telling ya…
John Wayne was real fuckin’ John Wayne
right with us. He was on top of the TOC
choppin’ Charlie with a 60.” Dramatic, exciting and what you’d expect from The Duke.
But, it’s fiction, not fact.
Special Forces vets
who really were there at the time deny the
story totally, as did Wayne and his family.
Spec4 Donald Briere, who was the camp radio operator then and
who would retire as an SF LTC, said, “There was no raid when Mr
Wayne was there. That nasty raid happened a few days prior to his
arrival. Obviously, the camp was under enemy observation and tension was high. While there, John Wayne did get familiarization with
some of SF’s own special armament.”
As for his dad “chopping Charlie,” son, Patrick, said of the incident,
“Never happened. If it had, he would have told us in grand detail. It
is also a certainty that the military PIO and the Saigon press corps
would have had a field day with it, too.”
For all the stories of fun, heroism and adventure, there are also tales
of sentimentality. Two of these center around bracelets that were
bestowed on Wayne during his time in Vietnam. The first bracelet
was a POW/MIA bracelet that represented the life of CPT Stephen
P. Hanson, USMC. Hanson had sent his wife and son a picture of
himself with the caption “Me as John Wayne.” Sadly, the Marine
was shot down over Laos; he never returned home. Wayne wore his
bracelet to commemorate Hanson. He kept in touch with Hanson’s
wife and son until his own death.
The other memento was a “Yard” bracelet given to him by the Degar
or Montagnard People of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, fighters
against communism. The brass bracelet was a gift from the II CTZ
Mike Force, presented by their Montagnard commander, Ka Doh.
The bracelet is a symbol of friendship and respect. Sentinel editor
Camp Plei Djerang was home to SF Team A-251 during John Wayne’s memorable visit there in 1966. It
is where the reality of then and the internet rumors of today were separated. (Special Forces Association)
Plei Djerang, June 1966, Camp CO Capt John Kai; their guest, John Wayne; SP4 Don Briere; unidentified C-2 officer. (Don Briere)
November 2020 5 | Sentinel
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The Winchester 1894
- F-35 test pilots described how intense it is to fly the aircraft, The Jerusalem Post reported.
- “It’s like an 800-pound gorilla sitting on your chest,” a pilot said in a Lockheed Martin webinar.
- “After some training, pilots come out looking like they are 100 years old,” another test pilot said.
A US test pilot described the challenges of flying one of the world’s most advanced warplanes, the F-35 fighter jet, in a recent discussion in a webinar organized by Lockheed Martin.
Tony “Brick” Wilson, an F-35 test pilot for the American defense company who formerly served in the US Navy, described the “g-forces” — or gravitational force — must deal with when flying the hi-tech US fighter jets.
“It’s like an 800-pound gorilla sitting on your chest,” Wilson said earlier this month, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The F-35 has a top speed of around Mach 1.6 or 1,228 mph.
Aircraft-to-aircraft “dog fighting” is like a full-body workout, and “you are wiped out” by the end, Wilson added.
The hi-tech, fifth-generation aircraft produced by Lockheed Martin is a multirole stealth aircraft that is intended for air superiority and strike missions, Insider previously reported.
Monessa “Siren” Balzhiser, another F-35 test pilot for the company, also addressed “g-forces” in the discussion.
An average roller coaster pulls about three to four “g-forces,” Balzhiser said, who, prior to joining Lockheed, served in the US Air Force.
“For a g-force, think about your weight. So if you were 100 pounds, pulling 9 g’s, you would be pulling 900 pounds of force on a person’s body. Imagine that much pressure on your body. It takes a lot of training and special training,” Balzhiser said.
Following a mission, “pilots come out looking like they are 100 years old,” she added.
Wilson was later asked how far the jets could fly, per The Jerusalem Post, and he described the different fuel levels available in each variant of the jet.
An F-35A carries 18,000 pounds of fuel, the F-35B carries about 13,000 pounds of fuel, and the F-35C carries almost 20,000 pounds of fuel, the test pilot said.
Generally, on missions, pilots fly no more than “500 to 700 nautical miles, execute a mission, and then travel back” to base, Wilson said.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the US Air Force deployed F-35 fighter jets to NATO’s front line to patrol for Russian missiles that could threaten planes, Insider previously reported.
A multirole stealth aircraft, the F-35 is intended for air superiority and strike missions and is now flown by at least 17 airforces worldwide.
It is equipped with a powerful electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance suite. The capabilities, which allow the F-35 to gather and distribute real-time battlefield information to friendly forces, have earned it the nickname “the quarterback of the skies.”
In the webinar, Balzhiser said what she most valued about the warplanes is “the amount of information and situational awareness that the F-35 gave me in comparison to the F-16.”
The F-16 has three separate screens and displays, with each screen tied to a specific sensor,” she said, per The Jerusalem Post. “The pilots needed to do sensor fusion in their brain to take the information, think about it, and come up with a solution. The F-35’s large graphic display does that, provides that situational awareness faster than what I was able to do in the F-16.”
The weaponry carried by the F-35 varies. In a configuration known as “beast mode,” it carries four 500-pound GBU-12 laser-guided bombs on its wings, two GBU-12 in its internal weapons bay, and an AIM-9 air-to-air heat-seeking missile. That configuration sacrifices stealth for firepower, according to a 2022 Insider report.
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Sure as shooting I do!
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A POLITICO investigation finds that Russian companies have declared hundreds of thousands of rounds obtained from Western suppliers.
As gear reviews go, it was a glowing one: In a 60-second video clip posted on Telegram, a masked sniper sporting the death’s-head insignia of the Wagner mercenary army sings the praises of the Russian-made Orsis T-5000 rifle.
“The equipment comes very well recommended,” the soldier, pictured in the charred interior of a building, tells a war reporter from the Zvezda TV channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Pulling out the clip of the weapon at his side, he continues: “It uses Western .338 caliber ammunition. It works very well. It can penetrate light cover if the enemy is behind it. And, in the open, it can strike the enemy at a range of up to 1,500 meters.”
The Orsis T-5000 is made by a company based in Moscow called Promtekhnologiya that has been sanctioned by the United States.
And the “Western” ammunition?
Filings obtained by POLITICO indicate that Promtekhnologiya and another Russian firm called Tetis have acquired hundreds of thousands of rounds made by Hornady, a U.S. company that trademarks its wares as “Accurate. Deadly. Dependable.” Hornady, founded in 1949, sums up its philosophy with the phrase: “Ten bullets through one hole.”
The findings add to a growing body of evidence that supplies of lethal and nonlethal military equipment are still reaching Russia despite the West’s imposition of unprecedented sanctions in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year. The exigencies of war have exposed Russia’s lack of capacity to manufacture high-end sniper rounds, say defense experts, and that is fueling a flourishing black market for Western ammunition.
Information on the procurement of such gear is hiding in plain sight: Details of deals — importers, suppliers and product descriptions — can be found online by anyone with access to the Russian internet and a grasp of international customs classification codes.
Anything but bulletproof
In a “declaration of conformity” filed with a Russian government registry and dated August 12, 2022, Promtekhnologiya stated that it planned to source a batch of 102,200 Hornady lead bullets for the assembly of “hunting cartridges” used in “civilian weapons with a rifled barrel.” The specifications — .338 Lapua Magnum bullets weighing 285 grains — match those of a product in the Hornady catalog.
A second declaration bearing the same date is for a batch of “uncapped cartridge cases for assembling civilian firearms cartridges” made by Hornady with the same .338 Lapua Magnum specification.
The description is misleading: The .338 Lapua Magnum isn’t merely a “hunting cartridge;” it’s also a high-powered, long-range projectile that was developed by Western militaries in the 1980s and used by their snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reached by POLITICO, Steve Hornady, CEO of the family company based in Grand Island, Nebraska, denied selling ammunition to Russia in wartime.
“The instant Russia invaded Ukraine, we were done,” Hornady said in a brief telephone call.
Hornady declined at first to elaborate and, when asked to review the evidence, requested that it be sent by fax or courier as he did not use email. He eventually responded after POLITICO sent written requests for comment with supporting documentation by courier.
“We categorically are NOT exporting anything to Russia and have not had an export permit for Russia since 2014,” he replied. “We do not support any sale of our product to any Russian son-of-a-bitch and if we can find out how they acquire, if in fact they do, we will take all steps available to stop it.”
Hornady added that he had contacted the U.S. authorities following POLITICO’s inquiry. He pointed out that current U.S. law required that customers must obtain permission from the Department of Commerce to re-export articles made in the United States. “To the best of our knowledge, none of our customers violate that law,” he said.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, asked which ammunition his troops used, told POLITICO they had “a huge amount of NATO-issue ammunition left over from the Ukrainian army.” In a sarcastic voice message sent to a POLITICO journalist, the Russian warlord also asked for help procuring F-35 combat jets and U.S.-made sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers.
Promtekhnologiya denied filing any customs declarations to import ammunition; said it had no relationship with Hornady; and that it had the capacity to manufacture its own ammunition. The company also said in emailed comments to POLITICO that the Orsis rifle and the ammunition the company makes are intended for “hunting and sporting” purposes and are freely available on the civilian market.
Both Promtekhnologiya and Alexander Zinovyev, listed as the company’s general director in the filings, have been sanctioned by Ukraine, which cites evidence that its Orsis rifles “have been used in Russian military operations in Eastern Ukraine.”
Promtekhnologiya is also in Washington’s sights: “We take any allegation of sanctions violation or evasion seriously and are committed to ensuring that sanctions are fully enforced,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said in response to a request for comment from POLITICO.
“We have taken steps to hold Russia accountable for its war in Ukraine and have imposed an unprecedented sanctions regime to disrupt Russia’s ability to access funds and weapons that fuel Putin’s war machine. That includes sanctioning companies like Promtekhnologiya.”
Criminal, or wilful, violations of U.S. sanctions can trigger penalties of up to $1 million per violation, as well as up to 20 years’ imprisonment for individuals. Civil penalties can run to the higher of either twice the value of the underlying transaction or around $350,000 per violation.
Describing military-grade ammunition as for hunting or sporting use, as the filings do, amounts to a thinly veiled ruse to evade targeted “smart” sanctions aimed at starving the Russian military of the means to fight the war, said defense analyst Maria Shagina.
“Strictly speaking, smart sanctions are not supposed to target anything civilian to avoid humanitarian collateral damage,” said Shagina, a research fellow at the U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. “But the targets in authoritarian countries will really exploit this.”
Russia reloaded
Another Russian buyer of Hornady ammunition is a company called Tetis, which has disclosed two shipments since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. The most recent was in April for more than 300,000 “units” comprising a wide range of products that checked out with the Hornady catalog.
The main owners of Tetis, Alexander Levandovsky and Sergey Senchenko — who each own stakes of 41.1 percent — have links to the Russian military.
Both were previously listed as shareholders in another company called Kampo, which according to company filings holds licenses to make weapons and military equipment and has done business with the Ministry of Defense and the Special Flight Detachment that operates Putin’s presidential plane.
Although Tetis doesn’t offer Hornady ammo on its website, it does advertise itself as an international distributor for RCBS, a U.S. maker of reloading equipment. This is used to assemble cases, primer, propellants and projectiles into cartridges that can then be fired — as seen in this video posted by a Russian gun enthusiast.
A database check revealed that the most recent declaration of conformity filed by Tetis for RCBS, for electronic weighing scales, predated Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24 of last year by just over a month.
Russia’s trade bureaucracy allows local firms to vouch for the goods they are importing by filing declarations of conformity, such as those that mention the Hornady products. This means that the supplier listed on the form may not be aware of specific shipments that could have been handled by an intermediary.
Tetis did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Matt Rice, a spokesman for RCBS owner Vista Outdoor, said Tetis was no longer an international distributor for RCBS. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our business made the decision to end all sales of goods with the country,” Rice said in an email, adding that RCBS would remove the listing for Tetis from its website.
Doing the rounds
Hornady ammunition or its components are freely available in Russia, along with other high-end foreign military gear.
Take the “Sniper Shop” on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that is popular in Russia: It features a current offer for a full range of Hornady products, with the seller inviting buyers to visit a showroom in Sokolniki, a Moscow district, and offering delivery throughout Russia by courier or post. Contacted by POLITICO, the poster confirmed the Hornady ammo was in stock but declined to comment further on how it was sourced.
Then there is “Anton,” who advertises products from Hornady and RCBS on his profile. He also touts gear from Nightforce, maker of thermal optical sights; Lapua, which helped design the eponymous .338 ammo; MDT, a maker of chassis systems, magazines and accessories for rifles; and precision gunsmith AREA 419. All are American with the exception of Lapua, which is based in Finland and owned by a Norwegian company called Nammo.
“Anton” posted an offer for Hornady cartridges last October 24. Contacted via Telegram to ask whether he was still stocking Hornady, he replied: “We don’t do ammunition.”
POLITICO has, in the course of its research, also found declarations from several other Russian companies for ammunition made in Germany, Finland and Turkey.
The thriving black market reflects a structural deficit in Russia’s war economy. Its military-industrial complex can produce good small arms, like the Orsis rifle, but lacks the capacity to churn out the amount of ammunition needed by an army fighting a war across a front stretching hundreds of miles.
“Despite the quality of the rifles produced, a successful hit directly depends on the components used in the cartridges, and they, unfortunately, are imported,” a correspondent lamented in a post on a Russian military news site a few months into the war. Gunpowder produced in Russia lacks stability, the correspondent added, saying this is “unacceptable in the framework of high-precision shooting.”
The continuing access to specialized rifle cartridges made in the West, such as the .338 Lapua Magnum, by a sanctioned Russian small arms manufacturer like Orsis maker Promtekhnologiya is “egregious,” said Gary Somerville, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British defense think tank.
“At present, there is only one manufacturer of this cartridge in Russia,” he added. “Preventing the shipment of these types of ammunition from Western countries to Russia is an easy win for those seeking to constrain Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.”
Balkan route
It’s not just ammunition from the U.S. that is reaching the battlefront around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, recently captured by Prigozhin’s mercenaries after a bloody, months-long battle.
There also appear to be cartridges from the European Union, which has imposed no fewer than 10 rounds of sanctions against Russia in a so-far inconclusive attempt to starve Putin’s war machine of the means to fight on.
Promtekhnologiya has filed four declarations since October covering shipments of 460,000 units described as “Orsis hunting cartridges” — most are of the .338 Lapua Magnum type. These identify a Slovenian company called Valerian as the supplier.
The first of the filings, dated October 13, 2022, includes an air waybill number whose first three digits — 262 — indicate that the shipper was Ural Airlines, a Russian carrier. It was not immediately possible to trace the route of the flight, however.
Valerian was founded on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with paid-in capital of €7,500 by Gašper Heybal, who previously worked for U.S. military outfitter Voodoo Tactical. On its home page, Valerian says: “Our goal is to equip you for your mission, whatever it might be, and wherever you are going.”
In online posts over the past decade — including on a Facebook Group called EU Guns with a declared mission of “easier transfer of weapons between European gun owners” — Heybal has done little to dispel the impression that he is an active small arms dealer.
The telephone number Heybal shared publicly in those posts is the same as the one for Valerian, which is registered at an address in a village around 40 minutes’ drive southeast of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.
Reached at that number, Heybal denied that Valerian had shipped ammunition to Russia: “We don’t sell any … firearms or ammunition, and also there is an embargo on Russia,” said Heybal.
In a follow-up email on the declarations of conformity, Heybal said: “Firstly, we must stress that we do not know, nor do we understand how the name of our company, Valerian d.o.o., appears on the document.”
“Secondly, Valerian is not listed there as a supplier but as the producer, and this is not possible, as we do not produce ammunition. That being said, it still makes absolutely no sense to us as to how our name could appear on it. We are glad you brought this to our attention so we can figure out what is going on.”
A Slovenian diplomat said that, while Valerian had never applied for authorization to export weapons or ammunition to Russia, it had shipped “individual parts” to Kyrgyzstan.
The Central Asian state is one of the countries that the EU has in mind as it discusses an 11th round of measures targeting third countries that are suspected of helping Russia evade sanctions.
“The competent services in the Republic of Slovenia have already initiated the appropriate procedures to investigate the facts concerning the company,” the diplomat told POLITICO, adding that they would verify the possible diversion of goods to the Russian Federation. “Slovenia is firmly committed to supporting Ukraine, we have been supportive of all sanctions packages and especially this anti-circumvention one.”
An official at the European Commission deflected a request for comment, saying the bloc’s member countries were responsible for implementing sanctions. “As this seems like a very specific case, these allegations need to be investigated further by the competent authorities,” the official said.
Sergey Panov reported from Spain, Sarah Anne Aarup from Brussels and Douglas Busvine from Berlin. Additional reporting by Steven Overly in Washington.