Six NATO countries entered the top 10 recipients of secret exports from Russia Deliveries of hidden sections to the Czech Republic have grown especially strongly
According to Russian customs, the export of classified goods from Russia to NATO countries increased sharply in 2021. In part, this may be technical growth associated with the movement of civilian aircraft abroad.
Photo: Alexey Maishev / RIA Novosti
The official customs statistics of Russia recorded a sharp increase in the export of goods of hidden categories
(the SSSS code, reflecting the supply of weapons, aircraft, nuclear materials, etc.) to a number of NATO countries. This follows from the open data of the Federal Customs Service (FCS), analyzed by RBC. The top ten importers of such products from Russia, according to the Federal Customs Service for January-September 2021, included the United States (second place), Czech Republic (third place), Germany, Great Britain, Estonia, the Netherlands (from 7th to 10th place) ...
Compared to the same period in 2020 (nine months), SSSS exports to the United States increased from $ 706 million to about $ 841 million, to the Czech Republic - from $ 102 million to $ 706 million, to Germany - from $ 173 million to $ 302 million, to the Netherlands - from $ 53 million to $ 222 million. The top ten recipients of Russian secret goods for the whole of 2020 included only the United States (third place) and Estonia and Turkey (ninth to tenth places).
Exports, coded in the statistics of the FCS as SSSS, mainly include the supply of weapons and ammunition (group 93 TN VED), aircraft and helicopters - both military and civilian (group 88), nuclear materials (some commodity items of group 28) ... Based on these data, it is impossible to determine exactly how much Russia is sending abroad weapons or nuclear fuel
The largest buyer of Russian sensitive products for the second year in a row is Algeria, and this is
mainly about the supply of aviation equipment and weapons, it follows from the data of the Federal Customs Service. China and India are also in the top ten.
Growth of supplies to the Czech Republic
Vedomosti drew attention to the appearance of the Czech Republic among the main recipients of Russian secret products in 2021 . The significant increase occurred despite a diplomatic conflict: in April, the Czech Republic accused Russia of involvement in the 2014 bombings at a local ammunition depot and expelled 18 Russian diplomats from the country. Hidden exports to the Czech Republic, reflecting the amount in groups 88 (aircraft, parts for it) and 93 (weapons, ammunition) in an unknown proportion, for nine months of 2021, according to open data from the FCS, amounted to $ 705.9 million.This is 23% of total exports Russian goods to the Czech Republic in January-September.
But the mirror statistics of the Czech Republic, in which there are no secret codes, shows that the total imports from Russia in categories 88 and 93 for the first nine months of this year amounted to less than $ 5 million. with how the temporary export of aircraft from Russia for repairs to the Czech Republic is reflected. “From the point of view of our foreign trade statistics, we do not take into account aircraft that are imported to us for repair / maintenance, and then exported back. These are mainly aircraft from Russia. From our side, it is correct to take this into account in the balance of services, ”said a CZSO representative.
The Czech Republic also operates the LOM Praha company, established by the Czech Ministry of Defense, which calls itself the only repair plant for Mi helicopters in NATO countries, certified by Russian design bureaus. The company buys some aircraft parts from Russian suppliers, it follows from the ImportGenius database. Also, the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) has owned the Czech aircraft factory Aircraft Industries since 2008 , which produces L-410 aircraft.
A similar temporary export of aircraft for repair may also be behind secret exports to Germany and the Netherlands, since mirror statistics of the European agency Eurostat show only symbolic volumes of imports from Russia in groups 88, 93.
However, a representative of the FCS told RBC that, in accordance with the methodology of the Eurasian Economic Union, foreign trade statistics take into account the moved aircraft, subject to the transfer of ownership or on the basis of a financial lease (lease) for a period of one year or more. Goods imported or exported for the purpose of repair or maintenance are not subject to registration in the data of foreign trade statistics, indicated in the FCS.
Russian customs statistics also reflect secret exports to Germany in the amount of about $ 50 million in January-September 2021 for the group “Products of inorganic chemistry; compounds <...> of radioactive elements or isotopes ". In turn, according to Eurostat, imports of radioactive chemical elements and radioactive isotopes to Germany from Russia amounted to about € 45 million over the same period.
Uranium and US ammunition
Exports to the United States under the SSSS code, according to the FCS, totaled $ 841 million in the first three quarters of the year - almost the same as for the whole of last year. Including $ 574 million of hidden exports in the group of chemical compounds. In turn, US foreign trade statistics, which are provided without exemptions by the US Census Bureau, show that imports of radioactive chemical elements and radioactive isotopes from Russia for the same period amounted to about $ 541 million, including $ 522 million in supplies of enriched uranium ( plutonium).
Low-enriched uranium is supplied from Russia to the United States by TENEX (trade mark TENEX, part of Rosatom). In 2020, the company's revenue in America amounted to $ 784 million, or 37% of total revenue, follows from its annual report (.pdf). According to the Canadian uranium mining company Cameco, the price of uranium in long-term contracts in 2021 (from January to the end of October) increased by about 23%. RBC sent a request to Rosatom.
Another significant part of the sensitive export from Russia to the United States is the supply of cartridges for civilian small arms, RBC wrote . In January-September, the import of Russian cartridges to the United States (included in group 93 "Arms and ammunition" of the TN VED) reached $ 142.5 million - more than for the entire 2020, follows from the data of the Census Bureau. Russia is the largest foreign supplier of cartridges to the United States. In September 2021, new American sanctions came into force, which restrict the "permanent import" of small arms and ammunition to the United States from Russia, which after some time - after the expiration of existing import licenses - should negatively affect the supply of Russian cartridges.
Подробнее на РБК:
По данным российской таможни, в 2021 году резко увеличился экспорт товаров секретных категорий из России в страны НАТО. Отчасти это может быть технический рост, связанный с перемещением гражданских самолетов за рубеж
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