German companies are involved in rebuilding Russia-occupied Mariupol – media

UPDATE: This piece of news has been corrected due to translation errors. The Tagesschau article refers to the use of products from German companies Knauf and WKB Systems in projects in occupied Mariupol, rather than their direct involvement in construction work.

The German TV channel ARD has revealed that products from German companies are being used in construction works in the occupied by Russia city of Mariupol.

Journalists from Tagesschau received testimonies and evidence, such as photographs and videos, of construction sites in the city.

In particular, they obtained photos showing a construction site with Knauf bags, whose official dealer publicly advertises that it has completed a residential building project using its construction materials for Russia's Defence Ministry.

Knauf is a leader in gypsum production and has a long history of doing business in Russia. The company's founder, Nikolaus Knauf, served as Russia's honorary consul for over two decades.

Nikolaus Knauf retained this position even after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, while in 2018, he still labelled further sanctions against Russia as "terrible". He said his company still employs 4,000 people in Russia and generates billions in revenue.

In addition, investigators found concrete blocks wrapped in green film with the inscription WKB Systems GmbH on them at numerous construction sites. The company, among other things, equips plants for concrete block production.

The company's main shareholder is Russian oligarch Viktor Budarin, who used his German company as a supplier to the construction industry in Russia. He is not subject to any sanctions.

Customs data reviewed by journalists revealed that WKB Systems had supplied complete plants for aerated concrete block factories for several years to one of Budarin's Russian companies – apparently, the same company whose products Russia is using in Mariupol.

The publication notes that although building materials are not subject to EU sanctions rules, German companies must ensure that their products are in no way used to benefit the Russian military.

Earlier, a journalist from the German public broadcaster ZDF, Armin Körper, who heads the channel's Moscow office, filmed a story that distorts the picture of life in Russian-occupied Mariupol.

Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, reacted to the story, adding that the story had caused a sharply negative reaction among many German experts and journalists he knew, including Körper's colleagues at ZDF.

The ambassador stated that the Ukrainian embassy immediately contacted the German editorial team, and they acknowledged their mistake and expressed their respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity.