China’s state-owned corporation Jilin Chemical Fiber Group — one of the world’s leaders in the production of chemical and composite materials — secretly transferred to Russia materials needed to manufacture hundreds of kamikaze drones.
This was reported by Politico, citing transport and customs documents.
According to the investigation, earlier this year the Chinese company disguised a shipment of 46 tonnes of chemicals made from carbon fibre. The cargo was sent to a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom, which develops critically important components for kamikaze drones that Moscow used for an attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih in August, in which 16 people were killed.
These documents, collected by the Ukrainian Centre for Security and Cooperation, became the first detailed evidence of direct exports of components for Russia’s defence industry specifically by a Chinese state-owned company, rather than private intermediaries.
“The documents show the most compelling evidence to date that a Chinese state-owned corporation continues to provide assistance to a sanctioned company that is part of the Kremlin’s military-industrial complex,” Politico notes.
Earlier, the Foreign Intelligence Service reported that China has become Russia’s main external partner, on whom Moscow is increasingly relying in the economy, finance and technology.