Arvydas Paukštys, the founder of Lithuania’s technology group Teltonika, says the company withdrew from the Russian market after Moscow’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, data obtained by the LRT Investigation Team shows that Teltonika’s products continued to enter the Russian market last year via the so-called “high-risk countries”.
A few weeks ago, Paukštys explained to the media that the company’s products, which were noticed on some Russian online shops, are very old. According to him, the new products cannot work in the country, as they are protected against connection to Russian operators.
This controversy arose after the previous government adopted in December last year a decision to ban the export by air of dual-use and normal high-priority goods to third countries as of 2025. The decision was taken based on information from the country’s services that some of the goods and technologies transported via Lithuania to third countries are destined for Russia and are used in the war against Ukraine.
At the beginning of the year, Paukštys said that a third of his group’s exports would be affected by the ban. Meanwhile, the new Economy and Innovation Minister Lukas Savickas promised to lift the ban as he said it harmed exporters of high-value-added products.
Data obtained by the LRT Investigation Team shows that the official supply of Teltonika products to Russia indeed stopped in the spring of 2022. However, exports to so-called “high-risk countries” started to increase at around the same time. These are countries through which, according to international investigations, goods banned by Western sanctions enter Russia.
What is more, the customs data information system ImportGenius shows that between the beginning of 2023 and April 2024 (the most recent data available), Teltonika-branded products were shipped from such countries to Russia at least 18 times.
The LRT Investigation Team contacted Paukštys for comment, but he declined to speak to journalists. The group provided written answers, which are quoted in full.
Sanctions circumvention
The Lithuanian customs authorities do not disclose the volume of Teltonika’s exports to Russia before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Teltonika’s replies to LRT indicate that its sales in Russia were insignificant for the group and accounted for a “very small” share of total sales.
“In 2021, the turnover was 3.55 million euros (about 1.7 percent of the group’s total revenue), while at the beginning of 2022, it was about 0.9 million euros (just 0.3 percent of the group’s total turnover). Trading on this market was then completely suspended,” the company’s statement read.
“As Teltonika’s sales on the Russian market represented an insignificant part of the group’s turnover, there was no need to replace this market with anything else,” it added.
However, the data obtained by LRT shows that in 2022, the exports of Teltonika’s products to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Serbia increased. Last year, exports to some of these countries decreased but were still higher than in 2021.
“Analysing Teltonika’s export data to these countries in recent years, there are no exceptional growth trends typical for these markets. This is explained by the fact that our turnover has grown in most markets, including the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada and the US,” the company said.
“It is worth noting that Teltonika’s sales in the EU, the UK, Australia, Canada, and the US continue to grow, while in the countries you mentioned, accumulated sales remain stable or even decline, representing less than 10 percent of the group’s total exports,” it added.
The group also states that it checks its customers in the “high-risk countries” “with the utmost care to ensure that sanctions are respected and that products are not resold to sanctioned countries”.
Teltonika pointed out that in 2024, three-quarters of the group’s production was exported to third countries by air, the rest by ground transport. “All exported goods were declared in Lithuania until January 1, 2025,” the reply said.
The LRT Investigation Team also received information that after the previous government’s decree on the air transport of goods to third countries came into force this year, Teltonika started transporting its goods through Riga and Tallinn airports instead of Vilnius.
“The information about goods passing through Estonia is incorrect,” the company commented briefly.
Imports without company’s knowledge
The movement of Teltonika products to Russia is tracked by the customs data information system ImportGenius. It reveals that between the beginning of 2023 and April 2024, the group’s products were shipped to Russia at least 18 times.
“The import of goods referred to in your report was carried out without Teltonika’s knowledge,” the company claims in its reply to LRT.
Available data show that two Turkish companies shipped Teltonika’s antennas and wires to Russia at the end of 2023 and in March last year. These companies were sanctioned by the US last autumn for circumventing sanctions.
According to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, Aavat Endustriyel Sistemleri, a Turkish company, shipped 150,000 dollars worth of microelectronic components to Russia between January and May last year. Its main customer in Moscow is Veresk, a company sanctioned by the US last year for its involvement in schemes to circumvent restrictions on Russia. Veresk was also the receiver of Teltonika’s products.
Another Turkish company, Olimpik Gama Logistics, transported Teltonika’s antennas to Russia in November 2023 on behalf of a Czech company.
“Regarding the imports of goods from Turkey (around 1,000 euros worth of various goods, with antennas and wires being the predominant items), we would like to point out that the Turkish companies you mentioned are not clients of Teltonika and we have no business relations with them,” the Lithuanian company said.
Old partners
Available data shows that the largest shipments of Teltonika goods took place in September 2023. At that time, Sinalex Limited, a Chinese logistics company, shipped more than 70,000 dollars worth of GPS tracking equipment and other goods from Hong Kong to Russia.
Teltonika’s subsidiary Teltonika Limited is also based in Hong Kong. Its official purpose is to supply electronic components to the group’s companies.
“Teltonika’s representative office in Hong Kong is only involved in the supply of electronic components for our products to Lithuania and is not a distribution centre,” the company said in its reply.
According to Teltonika, it has no business relationship with Sinalex Limited, which ships its goods from Hong Kong.
“It also caught our attention that goods coming from Hong Kong originate from China. Teltonika’s products are always labelled with Lithuanian origin. In view of this, we do not rule out the possibility that companies operating in China, may have been using the Teltonika trademark illegally and without our knowledge and that these shipments were not goods produced by Teltonika. We will pay additional attention to the circumstances of this case,” the company said.
Russia’s Aurora Evernet Group also imported more than 2,700 units of Teltonika’s GPS tracking equipment from Hong Kong. The Russian company operates the Ivan Glonassov e-commerce platform, which specialises in tracking and navigation, as well as intelligent transport systems.
Ivan Glonassov platform claimed to be a partner of Teltonika before the war in Ukraine. The Russian company’s online shop still offers, for example, the Teltonika RUTX11 4G WiFi router.
According to the website, the products are shipped to buyers from the Ivan Glonassov warehouses in St Petersburg in Russia and Almaty in Kazakhstan.
Teltonika said that Ivan Glonassov is not an active customer of the group and that no sales have been made to it in the period 2023–2024. “We have no evidence that Ivan Glonassov has breached contracts and re-exported Teltonika products to Russia,” the company wrote.
Other partners in Kazakhstan have also offered to deliver Teltonika’s equipment to the aggressor country. Although the company’s subsidiary, Teltonika Kazakhstan, has been operating in this country since 2021, at least several other local companies publicly declare that they are representatives of the Lithuanian group.
One of them is Ruba Technology, which operates the WiFi.kz internet platform. It also offers delivery to Russia.
“We have signed agreements with this client, as well as with other clients in Kazakhstan, that Teltonika’s goods are supplied only to the Kazakh market, so we have contacted this client to update and clarify the data on the website,” Teltonika said.
The company’s response also states that sales to this customer were “extremely low”, amounting to around 20,000 euros in 2023 and 10,000 euros in 2024.
“We do not currently have any orders from this customer but should this customer wish to continue cooperation in the future, the staff responsible for sanctions control will carry out further analysis of this customer,” the company wrote.
The statement highlights that the Ruba Technology website contains “outdated information based on data up to 2020”. However, screenshots of the company’s website show the news section containing information about Teltonika’s products. The last entry on December 27, 2024, presents the Teltonika FMx003 vehicle monitoring equipment.
Teltonika became Sputnik
A few weeks ago, the founder of Teltonika Paukštys told the media that the company’s subsidiary was opened in Russia in 2021 but ceased operations after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
However, official databases show that Teltonika was registered in Russia in July 2020. Yuri Degtyar, head of the Russian division, also spoke in autumn 2021 about the fact that the company had been open for a year.
Interviewed by journalist Edmundas Jakilaitis on the platform politika.lt a few weeks ago, Paukštys said that in 2022 he laid off 45 employees of the office in Moscow. “By 2023, there was no activity there at all,” the businessman said.
According to official registers, the Russian branch of Teltonika has indeed stopped generating income in 2023, while last year it already had tax debts to Russia of 67,900 roubles. In autumn 2022, when the company ceased its activities in Moscow, Teltonika Russia changed its name to TD Sputnik, Paukštys said. The address of the company’s registration was also changed. The registers show that it still has two employees.
“These changes were made as part of the closure process. As one of the possible ways of terminating legal relations with a legal entity registered in Russia is through the transfer of shares, the change of the company’s name was particularly important for us to avoid possible interpretations regarding the continuation of activities under Teltonika’s name after the transfer of company’s shares,” Teltonika said in its reply to LRT.
Teltonika is not the only Lithuanian business that has faced legal obstacles in closing its former offices in the Russian market, the company said.
“It is common knowledge that Russian regulation is aimed at preventing a civilised legal withdrawal by Western countries, especially those identified by Russia as ‘unfriendly’,” the company said.
Teltonika also stressed that, according to its own data, it was “the first of the high-tech manufacturers to take measures to ensure that newly released products have technological restrictions in place to prevent their operation on the territory of Russia”.
The Lithuanian company said its business partners are being vetted and customers are signing an undertaking not to resell the company’s products in Russia. Violations are punishable by fines and unilateral termination of contracts.
“In addition, customers are informed that the products do not work in Russia due to their technological limitations,” the company said.
Products on the front line
According to Teltonika, it started implementing technical measures to restrict the operation of its products on the territories of Russia and Belarus after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Technological restrictions on the Teltonika products first started in mid-2022. Previously manufactured products were not subject to these restrictions,” the company said.
The company also claims that it cannot imagine a situation where its products would be used as a technological component in the Russian military industry. “Teltonika produces products for civilian use. We have no data on the use of our products in Russian equipment,” it stated.
However, speaking with politika.lt, Paukštys said that Teltonika had allowed their routers to be used in Ukraine for maritime drones. “When the war broke out, in the very first week, all the routers that were in our office in Kyiv were handed over to the military, and they really helped to defend against the columns that were heading towards Kyiv at that time,” the businessman said.
The LRT Investigation Team asked Teltonika how it is possible to ensure that the Russians are not using its products if Ukrainians are.
“As we have said, Teltonika produces products for civil use. We have no record of our products being used in Russian equipment,” the company said. It added that its products are not dual-use as their technical characteristics do not fall under the scope of the dual-use regulation.
Responsibility lies with suppliers
The threat that goods from technology manufacturers could be made available to Russia prompted the previous government to apply the EU recommendations and ban the export of dual-use goods by air to third countries.
Businesses said this decision is too restrictive, while the founder of Teltonika, Paukštys, said they were directed against his company.
“These restrictions have a significant impact on our business and the implementation of our projects. On January 15, 2025, a meeting was held between the Economy and Innovation Ministry, the Customs Department, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and business associations. During this meeting, many companies and business associations voiced their concerns about the current export bans, so this is clearly not just a Teltonika problem,” the company said in its reply.
According to the company, the Teltonika Group’s sales in third countries amounted to around 107 million euros in 2024 and are expected to reach 130 million euros this year.
In the wake of the public uproar, the new Economy and Innovation Minister Savickas said the restrictions introduced by his predecessors would be lifted.
“The topic was not very easy, and it was not easy to present to journalists the position on what is being proposed. [...] The ban is currently in force and will remain in force at least until January 22 when the cabinet is scheduled to discuss an amendment to this decree. If we agree, the resolution will be replaced by a new text,” Savickas told the LRT Investigation Team.
As part of the planned relaxation, the air transport of dual-use and normal high-priority goods to third countries will not be covered, but a ban on re-exporting such goods to Russia is planned to be included in sales contracts. Strict controls and detailed declarations are also foreseen to allow tracking of goods. Only suppliers who break the rules would be banned from transporting goods.
Savickas denied that the relaxation of the rules is intended to help Teltonika. “This decree directly restricts one of our strategic economic objectives and one company is significantly affected, namely Teltonika, but it is by no means the only one,” he said.
The minister also assured that he had not received any information that Teltonika had tried to circumvent the sanctions.
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