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Yermak-Macfola International Working Group has developed recommendations for strengthening control over foreign production components that Russia uses in its UAVs

International Working Group on Sanctions against Russia, headed by the Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and Director of the Institute for International Research FSSI (FSI) Ambassador Michael McFol, studied 174 foreign components withdrawn from three UAV models that use Russian troops on the battlefield Ukraine. In particular, the Russian army regularly uses three main models of drones: Shahhed-136/131, Lancet and Orlan-10.

At the same time, Russia in the process of production of UAV is still largely on the components of foreign production, in particular microelectronics. According to an international working group, the main supplier of critical important components for Russian drones is China, which accounts for 67% of deliveries, with 17% of them occur through Hong Kong. Turkey and united Arab Emirates account for 5% and 2% of components, respectively.

The drones also found components produced in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and other countries, including processors, chips, transistors and other vital components. At the same time, according to the International Working Group Report, many details can be obtained through public platforms, which complicates regulatory supervision. In view of this, the group's experts urged manufacturers to do more to prevent Russia's access to their products bypassing economic sanctions.

“Russia is extremely actively using drones for massive attacks on infrastructure, civilian and military facilities in Ukraine, so it is very anxious to see that important components for the production of enemy UAVs come from different states, including allies - allies of Ukraine. This question requires our joint immediate response.

We need to take comprehensive measures to prevent the aggressor from using critically important components to continue hostilities on Ukrainian land, ”Andriy Yermak stressed. In particular, it is proposed to reconcile the sanctions between partner countries, to unify the lists of dual use on the basis of codes of a harmonized system and to expand the categories of goods that are subject to sanctions based on codes of a harmonized system.

Companies should also develop clear instructions for compliance with the requirements of the legislation. It is recommended to strengthen cooperation between producers and authorities in order to improve sanctions and implement effective restrictive measures. In addition, governments should investigate well -known companies that do not comply with a certain sanction policy. According to experts, more effective use of existing institutions and mechanisms is needed.

In particular, the use of money laundering mechanisms (AML) can strengthen export control measures, since bypassing sanctions often has similar schemes to money laundering. The use of methods of combating money laundering to export control is valuable for the detection of structures in third countries, which are important for the production and export of military products to Russia, especially if production occurs outside the coalition that has imposed sanctions.

“The report of the Ermak-Macfola Working Group is a call for actions to strengthen international cooperation. Since we are focused on this complex landscape, information exchange and cooperation between coalition countries are of paramount importance.

By working together, we can effectively apply sanctions and strengthen supervision to restrain the unauthorized flow of critical technologies, ”says Vladislav Vlasyuk, a secretary of the International Working Group, Head of the International Working Group, Head of the International Working Group. The International Working Group on Sanctions was created on the initiative of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.