this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
29 points (96.8% liked)

Europe

7430 readers
864 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
federalreverse@feddit.org
poVoq@slrpnk.net
anzo@programming.dev
EuroMod@feddit.org
29
Chinese drone experts worked with sanctioned Russian arms maker, sources say (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org to c/europe@feddit.org
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Archived

Chinese drone experts have flown to Russia to conduct technical development work on military drones at a state-owned weapons manufacturer that is under Western sanctions, according to two European security officials and documents.

The Chinese experts have visited [Russian] arms maker IEMZ Kupol on more than half a dozen occasions since the second quarter of last year. During that time, Kupol also received shipments of Chinese-made attack and surveillance drones via a Russian intermediary, according to the documents and two officials.

[...]

Kupol had developed a new drone, the Garpiya-3, in China with the help of local specialists. Now the news agency is the first to report specific details of the extensive involvement of Chinese experts in tests and technological work on military-use drones inside Russia.

The officials, who asked that neither they nor their organisation be identified due to the sensitivity of the information, said the collaboration suggested a deepening relationship between Kupol and Chinese companies in developing drones - which have proven to be critically important to Russia's war in Ukraine.

[...]

The documents, including business invoices and bank statements, showed that Kupol received more than a dozen one-way attack drones last year produced by Sichuan AEE, a Chinese drone maker.

The drones were supplied by Russian defence procurement company TSK Vektor, which is under U.S. and EU sanctions, according to the officials and documents. TSK Vektor and Sichuan AEE did not respond to requests for comment.

[...]

DELIVERIES OF CHINESE ATTACK DRONES

A letter from TSK Vektor to Kupol reviewed by Reuters showed that in the second quarter of 2024 the procurement company billed the weapons manufacturer for more than half a dozen drones produced by AEE. The European sources requested that specifics of the letter, as well as the other documents shown to Reuters, be withheld, including their dates.

An AEE corporate document detailing shipments to TSK Vektor, seen by Reuters, confirmed the delivery of the A140 and A900 one-way attack drones. It also listed more than half a dozen other drones - the A60, A100 and A200 - due for delivery.

Kupol reports [...] describe flight tests of the A60, A100 and A200 drones at the Chebarkul military test site in Russia's Chelyabinsk region in the last quarter of 2024.

A group of Chinese experts visited Kupol's facilities in the city of Izhevsk to assemble the drones and train Kupol staff to use them, a Kupol document said. The experts then visited Chebarkul, it added.

Airline bookings seen by Reuters showed the Chinese experts were due to fly out of Chelyabinsk the day after the tests.

[...]

SECOND CHINESE COMPANY SUPPLIED DRONES In another Kupol link to a Chinese drone manufacturer, a flight test report approved by the Russian weapons manufacturer and TSK Vektor assessed the performance of an HW52V drone - made by Chinese firm Hunan Haotianyi - in the third quarter last year.

The HW52V is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone that can be used militarily for intelligence, surveillance and reconaissance, and as a strike drone, the European security officials said.

Air tickets seen by Reuters showed that Liu Mingxing, the CEO of Hunan Haotyanyi, and Artem Vysotksy, head of TSK Vektor's drone department, flew out of the Irkutsk airport in Siberia in adjacent seats in June following the last day of an event where the company's drones were displayed.

[...]

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Anonymaus@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

I’m afraid that for a lot of western countries, that’s impossible. They have too much to lose by doing so.