Chinese companies directly supplied parts and materials worth at least 55 million euros to Russian firms under sanctions for drone production, from 2023 to 2024, when Moscow was building a large-scale logistics infrastructure for its domestic drone program, claims The Telegraph in its investigation. In total, the publication identified 97 Chinese suppliers.
The goods exported by China to Russia included aircraft engines, microchips, metal alloys, camera lenses, fiberglass, fiberglass binders, and carbon threads, all key components for drone production.
As shown by the analysis of global trade data collected by Sayari, almost a quarter of the value of these supplies — 12.5 million euros — was sent to Russian companies associated with the production of Iranian kamikaze drones "Shahed", located in the special economic zone "Alabuga" in Tatarstan.
For example, the Russian drone "Harpy" is equipped with Chinese engines from Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine. Meanwhile, production rates have significantly increased: in the first half of 2024, more than 2,000 "Harpy" drones came off the assembly line, while in the entire 2023, 2,500 such drones were produced.
The company Mile Hao Xiang Technology, which manufactures engines for the "Gerbera" drone, supplied products worth more than 1.5 million euros in 2022–2023.
Publicly, China maintains neutrality, but its supply of drone parts indicates a close military partnership between Beijing and Moscow. Ukrainian military regularly find downed Russian equipment with Chinese parts.
Andrea Ghiselli, a lecturer at the University of Exeter, believes that in the relations between China and Russia "one is interested in the survival of the other, it's a simple geographical reality," reminding that the countries share a 4,200 km border.
As the publication notes, in early July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi privately told European officials that Russia simply cannot afford to lose the war, as in that case, the US could fully shift its focus to China.