Radiation detection equipment created by North East firm Kromek has been used to help protect Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an awards ceremony in Germany.
Police in the German city of Aachen, supported by the EU Commission Protective Security Advisor team, used equipment made by Sedgefield-based Kromek to secure a number of venues against radiological threats.
President Zelenskyy was visiting Aachen to receive the Charlemagne Prize, an award presented for work done in the service of European unification. He then went on to visit world leaders in the UK, Italy and France to discuss further defence packages for his country. Kromek’s portable radiological detector D3S was used at all security checkpoints along with other security equipment to ensure that the 750 special guests, who also included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, were safe during the special ceremony.
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Dr Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek, said: “We’d like to extend our congratulations to President Zelenskyy on receipt of the Charlemagne Prize, and we are delighted to have played a part in ensuring he and the other VIPs remained safe during the ceremony. Like the rest of the world, we have followed the story of the war in Ukraine closely, and appreciate the concerns that the police in Aachen may have had in hosting this event, particularly given recent strikes on Kyiv.
“Kromek has provided essential, portable radiation detection equipment to a number of government agencies worldwide, and we will continue to develop our technology as potential threats evolve.”
This is not the first time that Kromek equipment has been used to protect world leaders, with devices used at a Nato summit in Brussels last year, and when President Trump visited Europe in 2018. The company - which is based on NETPark - also won a prize from Nato after developing equipment that helps detect biological threats.
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