NAKO's partnership story is included in the long list of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation's Responsibility Award 2024. Our research and advocacy project on Western components in Russian weapons is featured in the nomination 'Interaction without borders: Ukraine to the world'.
In total, the jury shortlisted 67 NGOs out of 212 that applied. The shortlist and winners will be announced at the award ceremony on 22 January.
Since 2022, NAKO has been investigating critical components in the weapons used by Russia against Ukraine: Russian missiles, fighter jets, helicopters, howitzers and drones, in Iranian Shaheds and North Korean ballistic missiles. Our research proves that, despite international sanctions, Western microelectronics are being smuggled into the countries of the "axis of evil" — Russia, North Korea and Iran.
Together with the Ukrainian President's Office and the International Centre for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV), we are advocating tougher sanctions against Russia and export controls, as well as secondary sanctions against intermediaries in third countries. Our partnership has helped to inform Ukraine's Western partners about potential ways for Russians to evade sanctions, and to help update EU and US sanctions lists. In 2024, more than 80 thematic publications were published in Ukrainian and foreign media: Bloomberg, The Telegraph, Voice of America, and online resources from Italy, South Korea, Japan and others. The total coverage reached hundreds of millions of people.
