China helps to refill Russian drone supplies
The Biden administration vowed last month to crack down on companies that sell critical technologies to Russia as part of its efforts to curtail the country’s war against Ukraine. But the continued flow of Chinese drones to the country explains why that will be hard.
Although drone sales have slowed, U. S. policies put in place after Russia’s invasion have failed to stanch exports of the unmanned aerial vehicles that work as eyes in the sky for front- line fighters. In the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has sold more than $12 million of drones and drone parts to the country, according to official Russian customs data from a third- party data provider.
It is hard to determine whether the Chinese drones contain American technologies that would violate the U. S. rules or whether they are legal. The shipments, a mix of products from DJI, the world’s best- known drone-maker, and an array of smaller companies, often came through small-time middlemen and exporters.
Complicated sales channels and vague product descriptions within export data also make it hard to show definitively whether there are U. S. components in the Chinese products, which could constitute a violation of the U. S. export controls. And the official sales are likely only one part of a larger flow of technologies through unofficial channels and other nations friendly to Russia, such as Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Belarus.
The result is a steady supply of new drones to Russia that make their way to the front lines of its war with Ukraine.
On the battlefield, the hovering quadcopters often last only a few flights before they are blown out of the skies.
Refilling stockpiles of even the most basic unmanned aerial vehicles has become as critical as other basic necessities, such as procuring artillery shells and bullets.
Militarily, diplomatically and economically, Beijing has become an increasingly important buttress for Russia in its war effort. China has remained one of the largest buyers of Russian oil, helping finance the invasion. The two sides also have held joint military exercises and jointly assailed NATO.
As China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, meets this week with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, U. S. officials have warned that China still is considering selling lethal weapons for use in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the visit amounts to “diplomatic cover for Russia to continue to commit” war crimes.
U. S. efforts to isolate Russia from much-needed technology and cash have been complicated by China’s dominance of the global electronics supply chain.
The United States has sought to undercut some Chinese companies through export controls in recent years, but the world remains heavily reliant on China’s city- sized assembly plants and clusters of specialized component-makers.
The country’s outsize role has made it difficult to understand and control what foreign products go into basic, but critical, consumer electronics such as drones, which can be made from widely available components sold in retail stores.
“It poses an export control challenge: The same model can be used by real estate people to survey property and can be used in Ukraine for intelligence purposes,” said William A. Reinsch, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and a former official at the Commerce Department who oversaw export controls.
“They’re not the most sophisticated technology in the world — it’s not inevitable that they’re going to contain American chips,” he added, pointing out that if there are no American components in the drones, shipments become a political question, not a legal one.