Moscow’s German front company: How the Russian military bought European

Tamara Ceaikovski

LÜBECK, Germany — The police and customs officers had been waiting for hours. Parked outside the Radisson Blu Senator Hotel in the northern German city of Lübeck, they sat in silence, engines off, watching the entrance.  Inside, Nikita S. — a 39-year-old businessman they suspected of running a smuggling operation supplying the Russian military industry with European technology — was enjoying what would be his last night of freedom. Shortly after 6 a.m., the officers moved in. Nikita S. was