How do Russian aircraft builders circumvent sanctions? And where do the American and Japanese spare parts for their fighters come from?
The answer to these questions is in the new investigation of the program "Schemes" from Radio Svoboda. This investigation by "Schemes" was prepared based on the NAKO analysis, which we exclusively shared with journalists. A detailed NAKO investigation will be made public soon.
NAKO analyzed 2,000 spare parts from a Russian Su fighter jet obtained through Ukrainian intelligence. Then, they followed the path of the spare parts from the manufacturer to the final consumer.
Several intermediaries are involved in the supply chain of Western electronics, from manufacturers to Russian factories, particularly in Hungary, Cyprus, Turkey, China, and Russia. Moreover, in the Russian Federation, these are suppliers associated with the military-industrial complex, which were never sanctioned. Those caught find a way around, but this often complicates procurement and production.
"Sanctions usually force us to look for new suppliers and import methods. All this affects the delivery time and can affect the quality of products because some Chinese company, created a week ago, does not have the capabilities that a technological giant had, which could supply goods to its official dealers in the Russian Federation but stopped doing so due to sanctions." – explains senior researcher of NAKO Victoria Vyshnivska.
NAKO will soon present its report on foreign-origin components in Russian fighter jets. This report, like previous ones, will form the basis of proposals for introducing new restrictions on Russian enterprises and their partners.
The original investigation is at the link.