An analysis of 84,000 entries in the customs statistics of the Russian Federation shows that the Kremlin managed to stabilize the indicators of the import of components for the production of weapons to circumvent Western sanctions.
At the same time, a significant share of such supplies is occupied by components supplied to Russians by Chinese state-owned companies. This is stated in the publication of The Wall Street Journal.
In particular, it is noted that in October 2022, Russia was able to import microcircuits and other components worth $33 million. And this is not much lower than the figure of 35 million dollars of monthly imports, which the Russian Federation had before the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
At the same time, the Russians were primarily interested in computer chips to produce cruise missiles, navigation equipment, or individual elements for GPS guidance systems.
If we talk about specific episodes of the supply of technologies for the Racist military industry from China, then the WSJ cites such examples. In August 2022, the Chinese state-owned company Poly Technologies shipped 31 pieces of navigation equipment for Mi-17 helicopters to the Russian Rosoboronexport.
Also, in the same month, the same company from the PRC shipped a telescopic antenna to the RB-531B “Infauna” jamming station through a “gasket” in Uzbekistan.
At the end of October last year, the Chinese aircraft construction company AVIC International Holding Corp supplied the Kret enterprise, a subsidiary of the Russian Rostec, with parts for Su-35 fighters worth $1.2 million. The Chinese China Taly Aviation Technologies Corp.,
which belongs to the Department of Equipment of the Air Force of China, in the same October 2022, supplied the Rashist enterprise “Almaz-Antey” with elements for the production of the 96L6E radar station, which is part of the S-400 complex. And one of the most active electronics suppliers for the Russian Federation last year was the Chinese company Sinno Electronics, which during April-October 2022, supplied retailers with as many as 1,300 batches of goods with a declared value of more than 2 million dollars.
At least the fact that US Secretary of State Blinken was supposed to discuss this issue during his visit to the PRC (which, however, did not take place), emphasizes the fact that the real volume of supplies from China to the Russian Federation for the production of weapons against Ukraine speaks for itself, WSJ emphasizes.
The experts interviewed by the publication admit that Western sanctions will create significant problems for the Kremlin at this stage, but they have not been able to deliver a “death blow.”
From Defense Express, we would like to add that practice shows that supplies of components to the Russian Federation from China are unlikely to do without much broader cooperation between the military and political leadership of both countries. For example, in the case of the project of Moscow and Tehran on the production and supply of “flying mopeds.”