We shared our partnership story with the organisers of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation's Responsibility Prize 2024. We will fight for victory in the nomination 'Interaction without borders: Ukraine to the World'.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, NAKO has developed a new field of research: critical Western components in Russia's weapons against Ukraine, including Russian missiles, fighter jets, helicopters, howitzers, and drones, Iranian Shahed-136s, and North Korean ballistic missiles. Our research proves that the countries of the 'axis of evil' are armed with Western microelectronics, sometimes dating back to 2023-2024. This means that critical components manufactured by Western companies are being supplied to authoritarian countries despite international sanctions.
Based on the results of the research, NAKO advocates tougher sanctions and export control by our partner countries to limit Russia's access to high-tech components – the 'brains' of most hostile weapons. Without Western microelectronics, Russian weapons will turn into tin cans.
In 2024 alone, more than 80 publications about our research were published in Ukrainian and foreign media: national television channels, Bloomberg, Telegraph, Voice of America, and online resources in Italy, South Korea, Japan, etc.
Some of the companies identified in the NAKO reports as having helped Russia evade restrictions have been sanctioned by our partners. For example, in August 2024, the following companies from the NAKO report on Russian fighter jets were subject to US sanctions: Hong Kong's Most Development Limited, Ace Era Co Limited and Siliborn Technology; Russia's Exiton; and Cyprus's Noratec Holdings Ltd. In November 2024, Asian companies Makewell Industrial Trading and Xin Quan Electronics HK Ltd, mentioned in the same report, appeared on UK sanctions lists.
We are grateful for the support of our partners in this case – the Office of the President of Ukraine and the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV). With the participation of the Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, NAKO coordinates the newly created Public Council on Sanctions Policy, which brings together representatives of the government and civil society to jointly advocate, implement and update restrictions against Russia and its partners. Together with ICUV, we discuss sanctions against Russia on international platforms. Over the past two and a half years, NAKO and ICUV representatives have visited the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Denmark.
This year's award will recognise stories of responsible partnerships between civil society organisations. So far, the 2024 Accountability Prize Organising Committee has received 212 stories. Three winners will be announced on 22 January 2025.
