Now we know Russia’s trick to multiply his drones. It is called “cooling units” and comes direct from China

If the question is how far Beijing’s help comes to Moscow with the Ukraine War in the background, the answer is very wide. We knew through documents obtained By Bloomberg that the production of Russian drones was being favored by the use of intermediary companies with China as main actor bound. Now we know something else. The engineering of deception to overcome sanctions.

Clandestine flow. I told it in Exclusive Reuters. Apparently, Russia has managed to maintain and expand the production of its drones Kamikaze Garpiya-A1despite the sanctions imposed by the West, thanks to a sophisticated undercover import scheme that involves Chinese companies.

Customs documents, internal contracts and invoices reviewed by the medium reveal that the L550E engines manufactured by the Chinese company Xiamen Limbach Aviation Engine Co. continue to arrive at the Russian state company IEMZ KUPOLnow through a Signature called Beijing Xichao International Technology and Trade. To avoid detection, engines are tagged as “Industrial cooling units” in transport documents, which has allowed Your shipment From Beijing to Moscow (and from there to Izhevsk, headquarters of the Kupol plant) without alerting Chinese customs authorities or formally infringing the country’s export legislation.

Mass expansion. An internal Kupol document confirms that the company has signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense to manufacture More than 6,000 Garpiya In 2025, tripling the production of the previous year. For April, more than 1,500 units had already been delivered. These drones, long -range and great precision, are regularly employed to Attack civil infrastructure and military deep in the Ukrainian territory.

According to kyiv’s intelligence, Russia is using some 500 Garpiya per month. Based technologically on the Iranian Shahed, the Russian model has become a fundamental tool of Kremlin’s war effort, now enhanced by Chinese components that include not only the engine, but also Navigation and control systems.

Ghost Companies Network. The path of engines to Russia is carefully disguised. After initial shipping from China, He had Reuters that engines are received by a Russian cover company called SMP-138owned by Abram Goldman, which in turn forwards them to another Russian company, Libss, final responsible for supplying Kupol.

A contract between Libss and Kupol Reviewed by means Specifies specifically that the products should be identified as these “cooling equipment” to avoid suspicions. Chinese commercial companies Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines have been used to transport these pieces Criticism of Russia since October 2023, despite the penalties in force. None of these airlines or the companies involved answered the Reuters questions.

Ambiguous position. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in response to the environment, He denied knowledge of these shipments and reiterated that the country strictly apply export controls of double -use goods, in addition to oppose sanctions Unilateral not endorsed by the UN. However, the reality of the continuous flow of military technology towards Russia calls into question that narrative.

The Xiamen Limbach company was sanctioned in October of 2023, after an earlier Reuters report that already identified its role in the manufacture of the Garpiya, which caused new intermediaries such as Xichao They assumed the relief. In spite of these measures, or Xiamen or Xichao have given explanations, and the trail of responsibility is more than diffuse among layers of screen companies, documentary opacity and legally ambiguous trade routes.

Diplomatic warnings. Plus: Revelation arrives at a time of Growing diplomatic tension Between the European Union and China. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will meet with Xi Jinping and Li Qiang at a summit marked by Chinese support suspicions to Russian military machinery. European diplomacy, headed by Kaja Kallas, He has warned Beijing that allowing this type of trade puts the security of the continent at risk.

China, meanwhile, insists that He has not exported Lethal weapons and that, if Russia uses its civil products for war, the same could be said of Ukraine. However, according to three senior European security officials, the case of Garpiya demonstrates that the Chinese supply It is not accidental or marginalbut part of a functional network that actively supports Kremlin’s military effort.

European deterrence and strategic game. Experts Like Meia Nouwensof the International Institute for Strategic Studies, point out that China’s priority interest is to keep the United States focused on Ukraine, thus avoiding a direct confrontation in the Indo-Pacific. The implicit strategy would be to prolong the European conflict to gain margin of maneuver in Asia.

For Brussels, however, the immediate priority is Cut the flow of critical components. Although the EU does not require China to break economic relations with Russia, it does insist that it reinforces its customs and financial controls to avoid the transit of sensitive products.

For now, the proliferation of undercover engines and fictional companies shows that, on the Ukrainian battlefield, the China’s technological shadow is increasingly difficult to ignore.

Image | Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

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