Chinese companies are supplying Russia with gallium, germanium, and antimony – key minerals for producing weapons used in Ukraine, according to an investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of Radio Liberty.
Western nations have imposed sanctions on hundreds of Chinese companies for supplying microchips to Russia after invasion of Ukraine. However, two dozen Chinese firms supplying these critical minerals remain untouched by sanctions. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that at least a third of these suppliers are partially owned by the Chinese government.
The recent investigation found that China became the only foreign supplier of gallium and germanium to Russia in 2023. China remains Russia’s largest supplier of antimony. These minerals are essential components in drones, missiles, night-vision goggles, and other military equipment.
“These are all elements that are parts of any electronic systems…and even more so in a war zone, in military facilities, in any kind of defense system,” said Tetyana Solomakha, a senior avionics lecturer at the Kyiv Aviation Institute.
Anton Pobuta, founder of Ukrainian drone manufacturer Lab 41 said that these metals were used in microprocessors.
“A drone without a flight controller and without this microprocessor simply will not fly,” he said.
One of the company that still supplies the critical minerals to Russia is Yunnan Lincang Xinyuan Germanium Industry, whose largest stakeholder is Chinese Communist Party member Bao Wendong. Another is VITAL Technology Group, which has about 25 percent ownership by Chinese state structures.
These minerals are flowing to Russia’s military-industrial complex, including the state-owned conglomerate Rostec, which says it provides nearly 80 percent of the weapons used in Ukraine.
“If there is direct cooperation between a Chinese and a Russian company, then the sanctions of Western partners do not directly affect this. They can continue to do what they do among themselves,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sanctions policy commissioner.
The investigation also revealed that a Russian subsidiary of a Japanese company, Ferrotec Nord, has been importing antimony from China and selling silicon wafers to Russian manufacturers of microelectronics for military use.
Some of these minerals may even be reaching Russia’s nuclear weapons industry through Cryotrade Engineering, a Russian firm that receives gallium from China’s Hynhe Technology Co. Ltd.
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Schemes that the Chinese government maintains significant control over companies involved in mineral extraction and sales.
“China has a high degree of control over the companies and state-owned enterprises within China,” Cooper said. “Even companies that are perhaps not owned by the Chinese government, may in many cases be fairly controlled by the Chinese government because the government is going to be able to affect their business decisions.
The US’ October 17 sanctions mark the first time the US has targeted Chinese entities directly involved in weapons production for Russia. China has previously provided indirect support to Russia by supplying dual-use technologies such as microelectronics, drones, and geospatial intelligence, raising Western concerns, with earlier sanctions targeting Chinese suppliers of dual-use goods to Russia.
Read also:
- Russia’s oil trade with China and India stalls as largest-ever energy sanctions drive up shipping costs
- “This war needs to end” US Defense Secretary pick prioritizes China, downplays Ukraine war
- Bloomberg: Three tankers with 2M barrels of Russian oil stranded off China as US sanctions bite
