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<\/a><\/p>\nBy Matthias Williams and John O’Donnell<\/p>\n
LONDON\/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces are finding a growing number of components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office told Reuters, as Western supplies are squeezed by sanctions.<\/p>\n
In “the weapons recovered from the battlefield we continue to find different electronics,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises the president’s chief of staff on sanctions policy.<\/p>\n
“The trend is now that there is less Western-made components but more \u2013 not hard (to) guess which country \u2013 made components. Of course, China,” he said via a video call.<\/p>\n
China has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The assault triggered Western sanctions, including on sending military and dual-use technology such as microchips that could be used in either ordinary appliances or weapons.<\/p>\n
Intelligence gathered by Ukrainian experts from the battlefield and shared with Reuters stated that Chinese-made components were found in a navigation system in Orlan aerial drones that had previously used a Swiss system.<\/p>\n
The experts also reported finding Chinese parts in the fire control system in Russian tanks that had earlier used French-made parts.<\/p>\n
Reuters could not independently verify the intelligence, including whether the components mentioned may have been intended for non-military use or whether they were moved to Russia by a third party.<\/p>\n
“We’re picking (up) a lot of different stuff, China made,” Vlasiuk said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Chinese companies had provided parts for Russian military hardware, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson’s office told Reuters: “Throughout history, China has launched normal trade cooperation with all countries, including Russia, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.”<\/p>\n
“As for military item exports, China has throughout adopted a prudent and responsible attitude. China’s position and actions have always been this way.”<\/p>\n
NAMING NAMES<\/p>\n
Vlasiuk said that Ukraine was able to identify some manufacturers or suppliers and share that information with Western allies.<\/p>\n
He named China North Industries Group (Norinco), a Chinese weapons maker, as one supplier and military supplier Xinxing Guangzhou Import & Export Co as another, without saying what they had supplied.<\/p>\n
A member of staff at Norinco, who declined to give their name, said the company was “not providing military equipment components to Russia”.<\/p>\n
Xinxing Guangzhou Import & Export Co did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Russia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken last month said China had not “crossed that line” yet of supplying Russia with lethal aid.<\/p>\n
However, U.S. officials are watching developments closely and are concerned, in particular, by so-called dual-use products, such as electronics that can be used in, say, a microwave or a missile.<\/p>\n
“We and our partner governments are relentlessly focused on restricting Russia’s access to key technologies that fuel its brutality in Ukraine,” said a senior State Department official. “We will continue to take action to degrade Putin\u2019s war machine.”<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the U.S. added Chinese companies to its latest sanctions, including a satellite image reseller that the State Department said supplied imagery of locations in Ukraine to entities affiliated with Wagner and its head, Yevgeny Prigozhin.<\/p>\n
China, which has positioned itself as a mediator, has said it is not interested in inflaming the conflict as it says Western arms supplies to Ukraine do.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the Chinese company Comnav Technology for supplying navigation and radar equipment to Russia that could be used to support Russian and Iranian drones and missiles. A Comnav staff member, asked whether it was supplying components to Russia said, “No, of course not”. The staff member declined to be named.<\/p>\n
Vlasiuk described an “ongoing battle” first to impose sanctions on Russia and then to close loop-holes Moscow would find to avoid them. <\/p>\n
“We see that there a lot of examples of third countries continuing, willingly or not, to support sanctions circumvention,” he said.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Matthias Williams and John O’Donnell; Additional reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing; editing by Philippa Fletcher)<\/p>\n
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