Russia beats sanctions by going through Kazakhstan
September 14, 2024
Russia has obtained parts from French OEMs Thales and Safran for servicing its Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter-bombers, which incorporate some French avionics systems (including a Thales 3022 holographic Head-Up Display system), and which have played a significant role in Russia’s illegal and barbaric operation in Ukraine. Russia currently has about 130 Su-30SM aircraft in service, and these have been used to conduct glide-bomb attacks against Ukrainian cities.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western nations have imposed targeted sanctions targeting Russia’s defence industry and limit its access to advanced Western technologies. The sanctions regime was very deliberately aimed at weakening Russia’s military capabilities and at eroding its ability to conduct military operations.
An investigation by InformNapalm reportedly found that Russia had started putting plans in place to circumvent possible sanctions in October or November 2021, some months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, aware that sanctions were likely to be imposed, and realising that communication with French suppliers would become difficult or impossible. There was some substitution of French parts with local items. But it is not easy to abandon foreign parts and replace them with local systems overnight.
Russia therefore used the Kazakh company ARC Group (said to be the “exclusive distributor of Safran Electronics & Defence in the Republic of Kazakhstan”) acting as an intermediary, and allowing Russia to access advanced military technology under the cover of the Kazakhstani contractor in the face of the Western sanctions.
The arrangement also saw Kazakh personnel being sent to Thales in France for training before immediately going to Irkutsk in Russia to perform maintenance on Russian Su-30SM aircraft helping to keep them operational despite international sanctions..
Kazakhstan does operate its own Su-30SM aircraft, providing a convenient ‘cover story’. The Kazakh Air Defense Forces have ordered 24 Su-30SM in total under three separate contracts. An initial four Su-30SMs were ordered in April 2015, with eight more ordered in December 2015. A third order for 12 aircraft was approved in August 2017, and all have now been delivered.
The investigation seems to show that it may be possible to exploit loopholes and clever schemes to circumvent and undermine the effectiveness of Western sanctions against Russia’s military capabilities.
