Russia imports Taiwanese machinery for military use despite Western sanctions
Russia’s military industry continues to source modern machinery from Taiwan, despite the sanctions.
Source: a joint investigation by The Insider and the Reporter.
Russia is still obtaining modern machine tools used in the military industry from Taiwan, which has joined the sanctions against Russia.
Although there is a direct ban on exporting such products, Russia can purchase them through third countries. Parallel imports mainly go through Türkiye or China.
Between March and September 2023, Russia imported at least 193 Taiwanese-made machining centres with a total value of nearly US$29 million, the investigation says.
Parallel imports generate huge profits for both intermediaries and manufacturing companies.
For instance, a machine that cost intermediaries in third countries US$60,000 to US$180,000 was purchased by the Kometa Corporation in Moscow, a Russian manufacturer of cruise missiles and space technology, for US$1 million.
Background:
- Over the past year, Chinese military entities, state AI research institutes and universities have been buying up small batches of Nvidia A100 and H100 semiconductors, which are banned for export to China by the US.
- On 20 January, it was reported that businessman Ilya Kahn, who is accused of supplying semiconductors to sanctioned companies associated with Russian intelligence agencies and the military, had been arrested in Los Angeles.
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