China provided Russia for drones with a value of 47 million pounds

In the years 2023-24 Chinese enterprises delivered parts and materials worth at least 47 million pounds to Russian companies covered by sanctions for the production of drones, “Telegraph” said on Wednesday. A total of 97 Chinese suppliers were identified.

According to a journalistic investigation, conducted by the British newspaper and the Sayari company, dealing with data and risk analysis, among goods exported directly from China to Russia were, among others Airlines, microprocessors, metal feet, camera lenses and glass fibers. As established, all these parts and materials are key elements for the production of drones.

This is also confirmed by the accounts of Ukrainian soldiers who, during the routine examination of Russian military equipment, find parts produced by Chinese companies.

“Telegraph” determined that some of Chinese shipments worth 10.7 million pounds were sent to Shaad drones related to the production of Iranian drones covered by Western sanctions and operating in the Special Economic Zone of Alabug in Jeła Babuga in Tatarstan.

At the beginning of 2023, Moscow and Tehran signed an agreement worth 1.5 billion pounds for the production of drones in Russia. The Ukrainian Think Thank Center for Defense Strategies (CDS) said that after Iranians gave technical drawings, software and technology, Russia fully developed domestic production. “Since then, Iran has gone into the background. (…) China has become the main external supplier, and key components, such as engines and navigation systems, come from China,” reads the CDS report.

It is in Alebuga that Russian Garpija drones are created, driven by the company's engines, which is based in the port city of Xiamen in south-eastern China. The newspaper pointed out that their production has recently increased: “In the first half of 2024, over 2,000 Garpija drones came from the production line, while Russia had previously produced 2.5 thousand such drones throughout the year.”

In addition, as the British daily reported, “Beijing supported Moscow, allowing Chinese companies to export double -purpose, commercial and military goods, which in 2024 raised (value) of double -sided trade exchange to a record 210 billion pounds.”

China officially declare neutrality in the matter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The newspaper cited the statement of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who at the beginning of July told in a private conversation with European officials that China could not let Russia lose the war in Ukraine. In his opinion, this could lead to the fact that the US would focus all their attention on Beijing.

Andrea Ghiselli, a lecturer specializing in Chinese foreign policy at the University of Exeter, said in an interview with the diary that “China benefits from stability around the world, but if they had to choose between the perspective of strategic interests and the principles of diplomacy, they would focus primarily on strategic interests.” “Beijing simply can't give up Putin,” the expert emphasized.

“China probably provides Russia by much more than reflecting commercial data, analyzed by” Telegraph “and Sayari. Quotant estimates should be treated as the lower limit, not the upper, because none of the countries report deliveries in a reliable way,” said the newspaper.

From London Marta Zabłocka (PAP)

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