Russia buys Western aircraft parts via intermediaries despite sanctions, media reports
Russia managed to import aircraft tires worth $30 million from Western and other foreign manufacturers last year despite sanctions, The Guardian reported on Sept. 12, citing a report from a Ukrainian agency it had obtained.
Using third-country intermediaries, Russia has managed to obtain these critically needed components from the U.S. company Goodyear, the British Dunlop, Japan's Bridgestone, and France's Michelin, the report by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) read.
The Western countries and other partners have sought to undermine Russia's defense industry by sanctioning military-use materials and components.
The vast majority of the 2023 imports (70%) reportedly came from Michelin, including the type of tires used by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's plane.
The EU, U.K., U.S., and Japan have imposed sanctions on the sale of aviation tires to Russia in an effort to stifle Russia's aviation manufacturing amid the ongoing war against Ukraine.
The report indicated no wrongdoing by the said companies, The Guardian wrote, as Moscow mostly used entities in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and central Asian countries as intermediaries.
The report also said that there is evidence of some of these parts flowing to Russia directly from the West. Michelin and Goodyear told The Guardian they had suspended sales to Russia.
Also on Sept. 12, the Ukrainian investigative project InformNapalm released an investigation saying that Russia maintains its Su-30SM fighter aircraft using French equipment.
Citing documents and testimonies, InformNapalm said that an obscure Kazakh company, ARC Group, helps Russia equip its fighter jets with displays, navigation systems, and other electronics produced by the French companies Thales and Sagem.
The Su-30SM is a modernized version of the Sukhoi Su-30 jet widely used in the war against Ukraine. One aircraft to this model was reportedly shot down by Ukrainian military intelligence agency forces over the Black Sea earlier this week.
Russia has been adapting to Western sanctions, using smuggling and various schemes to acquire the sanctioned goods. Last December, NACP released a report listing roughly 2,500 foreign-made components found in Russian weaponry on the battlefield, with roughly three-quarters originating in the U.S.
