Serbian machine-tool manufacturer Grindex continued supplying equipment to Russian companies after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including to firms affiliated with the defense industry. The findings were reported in a joint investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Balkan Service and its investigative projects Schemes (Skhemy) and Sistema. According to the findings, about €27.5 million worth of Grindex products were imported into Russia between March 2022 and March 2025.
The investigation found that some of the machines shipped to Russia during that period ended up at sanctioned Russian military-industrial enterprises including companies belonging to Rostec, the Russian state-owned defense and technology conglomerate led by Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB officer and a friend of Vladimir Putin since they were both stationed in East Germany in the 1980s.
One intermediary facilitating imports was the Russian Alfa Machinery Group (AMG). The United States imposed sanctions on the company in November 2023, followed by the European Union in December 2024. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Grindex signed a contract with AMG in December 2022 to supply a cylindrical grinding machine worth around €778,000. The equipment was ultimately delivered to the I. Rumyantsev Machine-Building Production Association, a Rostec company that manufactures aircraft components.
Another machine, this one worth just over $384,000, arrived in Russia in February 2025 and was later transferred to Ufa Aggregate Enterprise Hydraulics, another Rostec company that produces aircraft components and has been under EU sanctions since 2025.
In 2024, another machine was delivered through a different intermediary — Krona — to the Research and Production Corp. Machine-Building Design Bureau (KBM). The Rostec subsidiary, which is involved in the development of the Iskander-M missile system, is under U.S. and EU sanctions. The Insider reported in December 2023 that Krona had purchased Grindex machines.
In 2025, another Grindex machine was being leased by the Perm Research and Production Instrument-Making Company, which manufactures navigation, control, and stabilization systems for aircraft.
Shipments were also made through other intermediaries, including Finval Energo and Unimatic MSK, but investigators were unable to identify the recipients of other consignments.
Grindex is based in Kikinda,Serbia. The company was established in 2003 after being spun off from the industrial holding company Livnica Kikinda. It employs around 250 people.
Grindex manufactures metalworking equipment, including computer numerical control (CNC) and cylindrical grinding machines. The investigation noted that the company operated at a loss in 2021 and 2022 but became profitable in 2023, with profits increasing each year since then.
Serbia’s Trade Ministry told RFE/RL that it had not issued Grindex licenses to export dual-use goods, but said it could not determine whether the company’s machine tools were subject to export controls.
