Exclusive: Most companies supplying Russia’s Molniya drones are not under sanctions, new research shows

New research by the Centre for Defense Strategies, shared exclusively with The Kyiv Independent, reveals that most of the companies involved in producing Russia’s Molniya attack drones are not under Western sanctions — a gap that allows Russia’s arms industry to keep supplying itself unhindered.

According to the report, the main producer of Molniya drones is Atlant Aero LLC, based in Taganrog in the Rostov region. It is sanctioned only by the European Union and Canada, but not by the United States or the United Kingdom, highlighting the lack of coordination among Western allies in the sanctions regime.

The controlling shareholder of Atlant Aero, Prominvest JSC, is not sanctioned by any Western country. The company is managed by beneficial owner Viktor Grigoryev and four other co-owners, all outside the sanctions lists, according to the research.

The report also identifies ten other Russian companies involved in producing components for Molniya drones that have no Western sanctions. Eleven Chinese companies in the supply chain are also unsanctioned, including Shenzhen Xingkai Technology Co., which supplies mesh networking equipment that enables the drones to operate deep inside Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian military intelligence expert Serhii Beskrestnov, known by the pseudonym “Flash”, says the Molniya drone costs around $1,600, has a range of up to 50 kilometers and can carry a warhead of up to 10 kilograms.

The co-founder of the Centre for Defense Strategies, Oleksandr Danyliuk, stresses that the companies involved in producing Russian weapons must be put under sanctions and that an enforcement mechanism is needed to close the gaps being exploited.

Source: The Kyiv Independent — kyivindependent.com

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0