NAKO Senior Researcher Viktoriia Vyshnivska spoke at the European Sanctions and Export Controls for Aerospace and Defence Conference, held on 24–25 March 2026 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The conference served as a platform for exchanging experience, identifying practical solutions, and discussing issues specific to the aerospace and defence sectors. Participants included compliance professionals, legal experts, and representatives of regulatory authorities. Among other topics, discussions focused on:
- developments in international export control legislation;
- government approaches to sanctions implementation and enforcement;
- risks of sanctions circumvention and ways to address them;
- approaches to ensuring compliance with sanctions and export control rules.
During the conference, Viktoriia Vyshnivska presented preliminary findings of the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission’s research on Chinese shell companies involved in sanctions circumvention and the supply of goods to Russia’s defence-industrial complex.
“We not only shared our analytical work but also gained a better understanding of the internal challenges businesses face in the new reality of global conflicts, including Russia’s war against Ukraine. In many cases, companies lack the resources to properly implement effective controls; in others, the issue lies in the quality of these mechanisms,” the NAKO expert noted.
She also highlighted a shift of responsibility from governments to businesses, which complicates timely responses to regulatory changes in a rapidly evolving geopolitical environment. “Even among defence sector companies, there is not always a full understanding of how export controls on their products are directly linked to today’s security challenges,” Vyshnivska added.
We thank the International Renaissance Foundation for supporting sanctions advocacy efforts.