Michelin continues to supply products to Russia

In previous articles, we discussed how the French tire manufacturer Michelin, through its Turkish distributor, represented by the Turkish holding TATKO T.A.S. and its Kazakh subsidiary “KAZ T-REMA International,” has been successfully supplying Michelin tires to Russia, bypassing sanctions.

Our investigation revealed various methods by which Michelin, in collaboration with its Turkish partner TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO LASTIK SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.) and its affiliate “DTO TYRE FZCO,” has circumvented these restrictions.

A more recent tactic involves TATKO T.A.S. purchasing tires from Michelin and reselling them to “DTO TYRE FZCO,” which then supplies the tires directly to Russia and Kazakhstan via Latvia. The Latvian company “ESTMA,” acting on behalf of “DTO TYRE FZCO,” manages the shipments of Michelin tires to Russia while avoiding sanctions, and also sends them to Kazakhstan’s “KAZ T-REMA International” for further export to Russia.

We provided evidence in our reports and sent inquiries to both Michelin and TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO LASTIK SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.), but all requests were ignored.

This raises the question: how does a major European company continue to supply Michelin products to Russia through its Turkish distributor TATKO T.A.S., despite sanctions? We believe we are close to uncovering the answer, as we suspect that Michelin’s current vice president, Manuel Montana, who led Michelin’s Turkish office from August 2016 to February 2019, developed close ties with TATKO T.A.S. CEO, Vedat Ozcelik.

Another indication of the close relationship between Michelin’s vice president Manuel Montana and TATKO T.A.S. CEO Vedat Ozcelik is that Montana has consistently recommended that major clients purchase tires exclusively through TATKO T.A.S. (TATKO LASTIK SANAYI VE TICARET A.S.).