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Putin Critic Reveals Ugly Truth Behind Russia's Killer Drones
Dec 08, 2023 at 4:02 AM EST
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By Aadil Brar
China News Reporter
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Russian drone makers have become masters of circumventing international
sanctions in order to access vital technology used in President Vladimir
Putin's war machines, according to a recent report out of Switzerland.

The November 15 report by the Bern-based swissinfo, a division of the
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, found Russia's manufacturers of various
unmanned aerial vehicle models continued to acquire key components from
the West or Western-aligned governments, including Switzerland, the
United States and Taiwan.

The development casts further doubt on the effectiveness of otherwise
sweeping controls placed on Russian public and private sector access to
equipment Putin has used to continue his army's ongoing invasion of
neighboring Ukraine, whose resistance has resulted in a stalemate as the
fighting enters a second winter.

"This isn't a case of Moscow using old equipment from before the
sanctions, either: many of the components were produced this year,"
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a long-time critic of the Kremlin now exiled in
London, said in an X thread on Wednesday. "So how is Putin bypassing
sanctions and getting his grubby hands on them?"

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"Some of the components, such as microchips, are also used in various
commercially available goods, such as electric scooters—these can easily
be extracted and resold, and are not classified as military equipment,"
said Khodorkovsky, whose investigative project, the Dossier Center,
contributed to the research.

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The Russian opposition leader said intermediary shell companies, or
"fixers," registered in Turkey and China were helping the Kremlin
procure components, leaving "no paper trail to suggest any sanctions
were violated," Khodorkovsky said.

Among the beneficiaries of this secretive supply chain was Russia's
Lancet UAV, a highly effective loitering munition, or "kamikaze drone,"
that Kyiv's defenders have found difficult to stop. Swiss-made
components were among the parts found inside the Lancet when Ukrainian
engineers stripped the machines for inspection, swissinfo said.

In another example, documents reviewed by the Swiss news agency revealed
that VMK, a leading electronic components supplier in Russia, imported
$53,500 worth of parts from China, Malaysia and the Philippines, all via
Hong Kong.

A similar middleman strategy was used to source drone parts from leading
American companies such as Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and Atmel,
the report said. Meanwhile, components made by Taiwanese company VBsemi
were also discovered inside Russian military-grade drones on the
battlefields of Ukraine.

Russian Drone Parts Displayed by Ukraine
Ukrainian military experts show to representatives of diplomatic
missions in Ukraine downed drones that Russia allegedly uses for
striking critical infrastructure and other targets in Ukraine during a
press conference in Kyiv on December 15, 2022. Russian companies have
been sourcing drone parts from Switzerland and other locations despite
strict sanctions, a recent report says.
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP VIA GETTY
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That Russian drone makers were openly registering components of Chinese
origin was "a serious issue," Khodorkovsky said. "People are dying in
Ukraine every day at the hands of these drones, and cutting off Moscow's
access to their components would go a long way to reduce the deaths."

At the other end of the spectrum, Ukraine's armed forces were also said
to be struggling to acquire commercial drone parts made in China after
authorities limited their exports.

"China, by limiting supplies, may covertly try to reduce the combat
potential of Ukraine, increase the advantages of Russian armed forces,
and thus create the conditions for bringing Ukraine to surrender," Yurii
Poita, who heads the Asia-Pacific section of the Center for Army,
Conversion and Disarmament Studies in Ukraine, told Newsweek in October.

Components sourced from China accounted for 67 percent of the parts used
in Russia's drone fleet, according to a September report by the Kyiv
School of Economics.

Kurt Campbell, U.S. President Joe Biden's Asia czar, said on Thursday
that Beijing's support for the Kremlin was "deeply concerning."

"China has assisted through a variety of means. Not necessarily direct
military means, but through support through commercial and other
engagements. But Russia has largely reconstituted militarily," he told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was considering his
nomination for deputy secretary of state.

"And even though China purports to be an independent actor that has not
taken sides, very clearly, they have taken sides here," Campbell said."

"Switzerland has said there is no guarantee that the problem will ever
be fully under control. But that doesn't mean it, and other countries
whose components are found in Putin's deadly arsenal, shouldn't step up
efforts to minimize the damage," Khodorkovsky said.

The U.S. State Department and the Swiss and Taiwanese foreign ministries
didn't return Newsweek's separate requests for comment before publication.

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About the writer
Aadil Brar
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Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers
international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... read more

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