In a first, U.S. sanctions Chinese firms for direct military sales for Russia’s war

Two Chinese companies and a Russian firm have been slapped with U.S. economic sanctions for joint China-based production of long-range attack drones that Russia used in the Ukraine war, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The sanctions, which also included a Russian national, were the first time Chinese firms were sanctioned by the Biden administration for direct sales of military goods to Russia, specifically the Chinese-design Garpiya attack drone.

“The Garpiya has been deployed by Russia in its brutal war against Ukraine, destroying critical infrastructure and causing mass casualties,” Treasury officials said in a statement.

The drone was designed by Chinese weapons experts and produced in Chinese factories in collaboration with Russian defense companies. The drones are then transferred to Russia for use in Ukraine.

China has kept up economic ties with Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but Beijing has said its companies have been careful not to violate American and international sanctions on deals with Russian defense companies.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement to the Reuters news agency Thursday that Beijing strictly controls the export of items with potential military applications, including drones.

While U.S. sanctions were previously imposed on Chinese companies linked to support for Russia’s defense industry, “these are the first U.S. sanctions imposed on PRC entities directly developing and producing complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms,” the statement said.

Bradley T. Smith, acting undersecretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the sanctions are part of U.S. efforts to disrupt procurement networks supplying advanced weapons to Moscow.

“Russia increasingly relies on the expertise of foreign professionals and the import of sophisticated technologies to sustain its weapons program and advance its military campaign against Ukraine,” Mr. Bradley said.

At the State Department, spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We will continue to impose costs on those who provide support to Russia’s military-industrial base.”

The sanctions, however, are likely to be largely symbolic.

They block access by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to all property and interests of the companies in the U.S. It is not known if the companies have business or holdings in the U.S.

According to the Treasury Department, Russia’s arms manufacturer Joint Stock Company Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol coordinates building the Garpiya — Russian for “Harpy” — at Chinese factories.

The Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Co., Ltd. produces the L550E engine for the Garpiya.

The Redlepus Vector Industry Shenzhen Co Ltd. also is involved in the drone production. Redlepus works with the defense firm TSK Vektor OOO that Treasury stated operates as an intermediary between Russia’s AO IEMZ Kupol and Chinese-based suppliers.

TSK Vektor imported numerous shipments from Redlepus into Russia since the beginning of 2024, including electronic and mechanical components with drone applications. They include aircraft engines, parts of automatic data processing machines and electrical components.

The Treasury notice also said Artem Mikhailovich Yamshchikov, a Russian national, had been sanctioned. Mr. Yamshchikov is general director and owner of TSK Vektor, the company that assisted in the drone procurement.

The drones were described as “one-way attack” uncrewed aerial vehicle.

It is not known if the Garpiya is a knockoff of the Israeli-made Harpy anti-radar drone that was secretly sold by Israel to China in the early 2000s. The Washington Times first disclosed the Harpy sales to China in July 2002 after the drones were spotted by U.S. intelligence deployed with Chinese forces opposition Taiwan.

The sales prompted vehement protests from the Pentagon that at one point threatened to cancel U.S. arms collaboration with Israel unless the Chinese weapons sales were curbed.

Joint China-Russia production of the drones began last year, Reuters reported last month, quoting European intelligence sources.

Information about the collaboration included a production contract, company correspondence on the manufacturing process and financial documents involving IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons maker Almaz-Antey. The company produced more than 2,500 Garpiyas from July 2023 to July 2024.

Images of the wreckage of a Garpiya in Ukraine was also disclosed to the news agency.