BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - German authorities on Monday arrested five people suspected of forming a criminal organisation to circumvent European Union sanctions by exporting goods to at least 24 listed Russian defence companies, the federal prosecutor's office said.
The suspects, who are German, Ukrainian and Russian nationals, are accused of using a Luebeck-based company and shell firms to make some 16,000 deliveries to Russia worth at least 30 million euros ($36 million) since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Russian state agencies suspected of being behind the procurement network, the office said in a statement.
($1 = 0.8437 euros)
(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Editing by Miranda Murray)
