How China Helps Putin's War Machine with Rare Metals?

After the imposition of Western sanctions, China has become the largest and sometimes the sole supplier of these minerals for Russia. About twenty companies, including Chinese state-owned enterprises, supply these rare materials to Russian companies contracted with the Russian Ministry of Defense. The weapons that Russia uses in the war against Ukraine, from bullets to cruise and ballistic missiles, are produced using rare metals and metalloids such as gallium, germanium, and antimony. Following the imposition of Western sanctions, China has become the largest and sometimes the sole supplier of these minerals for Russia. About twenty companies, including Chinese state-owned enterprises, supply these rare materials to Russian companies contracted with the Russian Ministry of Defense. These chemical elements are even used in the development of Russia's nuclear arsenal, while China has publicly emphasized its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Journalists from 'Sakhmi' (the investigative section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Ukrainian) have investigated how China has gained a monopoly position in supplying sanctioned rare metals to Russia, which companies in Russia import these metals, and ultimately where these metals are used in Russian military factories. The rare metals used in electronic systems, gallium, germanium, and antimony that Russia receives from China, are considered critical minerals that are of special interest in all countries, including the United States and the European Union. These rare elements are stored in state reserves due to their importance, and their consumption is also controlled by governments. These metals are used to produce household electronics as well as in military industries. Tatiana Solomakha, a senior professor in the avionics and control systems unit at the University of Aviation Navigation, Electronics and Aviation Communications in Kyiv, states: 'These metals are used in all electronic systems: both in household appliances that we deal with daily and in all equipment used in war, from defense systems to offensive weapons.' Antimony is one of the most important chemical elements for weapon production. On the website of the American company 'Military Metals Corp', which is engaged in the extraction and sale of antimony, it is stated that this chemical is often used to improve the quality of metal alloys used in ammunition production and to reinforce the armor of military vehicles, and 'antimony has historically played an important role in the production of night vision devices, explosives, flares, infrared sensors, and nuclear weapons.' Gallium is also used in the production of night vision devices and, more importantly, to improve the alloys used in the shells of plutonium bombs and to stabilize plutonium itself. Professor Martin Polyakov, a member of the Royal Society of London, states: 'A small amount of gallium—about three percent—is sufficient to make a plutonium shell, and in plutonium bombs like the one dropped on Nagasaki, this is an indispensable element.' The Defense Technical Information Center of the U.S. Department of Defense refers to germanium as 'an extremely important material for national security' and states that this material 'is used in semiconductors, fiber optics, and infrared sensors that are used in ships, aircraft, missiles, tanks, and anti-tank systems.' Additionally, germanium and gallium are also used in laser technology. For example, the new Russian reconnaissance drone 'Orlan 30' uses a laser guidance system that requires access to germanium and gallium. Microprocessor production is also impossible without these metals. According to Anton Pobuta, founder of 'Lab 418', which produces drones for the war in Ukraine, 'a drone is unusable without a flight control system. In drones that have increasingly used fiber optics to withstand electronic warfare, gallium, germanium, and antimony are essential materials. The Russians started building these drones before us and are much more advanced than Ukraine.' The exclusive supplier of rare metals for Russia, the shipment of gallium, germanium, and antimony that Russia needs for its military industries has been banned after the imposition of U.S. and EU sanctions. These sanctions were imposed in April 2022, immediately after Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine. However, as Western companies ceased shipments of these materials to Russia, China, which extracts these three materials more than any other country in the world, began exporting them to Russia. According to Russian customs data obtained by the research department of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, China has been the sole supplier of gallium and germanium to Russia since 2023. Antimony is supplied to Russia by China and the United Arab Emirates. According to Yelena Blouusova, a senior researcher at the University of Kyiv's Economic Studies Unit, 'China and the UAE have formed a coalition that supports Russia in circumventing Western sanctions.' Tatiana Shevchuk, a lawyer at the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Center, states: 'Unfortunately, sanctions are not effective. Companies that circumvent sanctions are usually established specifically for that purpose. That is, alongside a company that collaborates with America, a company is established (often on paper) that sends the sanctioned material to Russia.' At the same time, according to this expert, 'sanctions are necessary because they create obstacles in ordinary trade routes. Russia has to pay more for sanctioned materials, and due to logistical problems, the volume of these transactions has also decreased.' Among the approximately twenty Chinese companies that export sanctioned rare metals to Russia, at least one-third are partially or wholly controlled by the Chinese government. Information about these companies has been provided to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). None of these Chinese companies are under Western sanctions. One of these companies is 'Lincheng Xinyan Germanium Industry', whose chairman and largest shareholder, Bao Wendong, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and two state-owned companies share the remaining shares of this company. Another example is the 'Vital Technology Group', which has one-fourth of its shares owned by Chinese state entities. This group exports germanium, gallium, and antimony to Russia. 'Hohene Technology', another supplier of these metals for Russia, is also under the control of the Chinese government. At the same time, the company 'Nanjing Infrared' is not owned by the Chinese government. This company has been collaborating with a Russian military factory for three years and supplies germanium to it. Zach Cooper, an Asia affairs expert based in Washington, states: 'The Chinese government, even if it does not directly own shares in a company, has complete control over the activities of this company and influences the business decisions of this company through political and economic pressure.' In December 2024, the Chinese government banned the export of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the United States while simultaneously increasing the export of these critical metals to Russia. NATO accused China last summer of supporting Russia's military industries during the war against Ukraine. Beijing denies these allegations and has urged NATO to 'reflect on the roots of the Ukraine crisis and its own actions.' Meanwhile, according to 'Sakhmi', all Russian companies that import rare metals from China either belong to Russia's military industries (like Rostec) or have contracts with the state military-industrial complex of Russia. Rostec has been under Western sanctions since 2022. Factories under this entity produce military fighters and helicopters, tanks, artillery systems, electronic warfare, ammunition, and various military missiles. Customs and tax data from Russia indicate that essential metals for weapon production are obtained through three companies for Rostec: 'Germanium', 'Germanium and Others', and 'Kraspotok'. None of them are on the Western sanctions list. Antimony exporters from China to Russia, such as the Russian company 'FruTech Nord' or a Japanese company from the 'FruTech Holding' group, have also not been sanctioned so far. According to 'Sakhmi', this Japanese company has established a branch in Russia and collaborates with microelectronics manufacturers used in Russian weapons. Additionally, according to sources from investigative journalists at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, this company sold silicon pallets containing antimony to the 'Epiel' factory, which is the only microchip manufacturer in Russia, last year. Unlike germanium and antimony exporters, gallium exporters to Russia are under Western sanctions but continue to cooperate with Moscow, including 'Ankor Group', which was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2023 but opened its new factory with Vladimir Putin's presence in Kaliningrad a year later. Another example is the company 'Kryotrade Engineering', which collaborates with the 'Kurchatov Institute'—the designer of nuclear weapons in Russia. Vladimir Putin changed Russia's nuclear doctrine last fall, allowing the use of nuclear weapons 'in case of obtaining credible information about large-scale attacks against Russia.' Two months later, Russia targeted the city of Dnipro in Ukraine with a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. In response to this action, China urged Russia not to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.