Sanctions do not help, since the machines are sent to Russia through Turkey and other countries.

Taiwan, despite its pro-Ukrainian position, became the most important supplier of metalworking machines to Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion, according to a joint study by The Insider and the Taiwanese publication The Reporter.

It is noted that Germany, Japan and Switzerland have left the market, and Chinese machines are not of sufficient quality, so Taiwanese machining centers, lathes and electrical discharge machines meet the needs of the Russian military-industrial complex.

Such machines are indispensable in the production of detonators, precision weapons and other military products. The sanctions imposed by Taiwan do not help, since machine tools are sent to Russia through Turkey and other countries, and some types of machines are not subject to restrictions at all.

According to the authors of the article, since 2017, Russia has been one of the four largest importers of lathes from Taiwan, with average annual sales of more than $30 million. With the full-scale invasion, Taiwan’s sanctions did not include a ban on metalworking machines. This led to Russia, for which other markets were closed, switching to Taiwan.

In January 2023, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economy finally included high-tech metalworking machines in the list of sanctioned goods. Only EDM machines can still be legally exported.

“After this, almost 80% of complex metalworking machines made in Taiwan coming to Russia are transported through third countries, among which Turkey and China are leading. From March to September 2023, the Russian Federation imported at least 193 machining centers made in Taiwan with a total value of almost $29 million.” , says the publication.

Thus, as of September 2023, almost half of the machine tools imported by Russia from Turkey were produced in Taiwan.

At the same time, Taiwanese-made machines are expensive for the Russian budget. For example, the Russian manufacturer of cruise missiles and space technology, Kometa Corporation, got one of the machines for $1 million. But importers buy such equipment through traders in the UAE, Turkey and China much cheaper – $60-180 thousand. This may indicate excess profits of such intermediaries.

The authors of the study add that most of the machine tools for the high-precision technologies needed by the military are produced in the EU, Switzerland, Japan and the USA. However, there are good analogues in Taiwan too. They often surpass Chinese ones in accuracy, which is extremely important for weapons production. High precision metalworking is required during the production of detonators, control systems for precision weapons, guidance heads, high-quality optics, etc.

Sergei Guriev, professor of economics and vice-rector of the school of political sciences in Paris, is confident that sanctions need to be tightened. Taiwanese manufacturers understand that it is illegal to supply high-precision equipment to Russia. It is also necessary to continue to monitor intermediaries.

How the Russian Federation bypasses sanctions

Earlier, wrote that China has sharply increased the supply of high-precision machine tools to Russia. Chinese shipments to Russia of an important class of advanced machine tools have grown tenfold since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and that country’s manufacturers now dominate the trade in high-precision numerically controlled machines.

And in the United States, a businessman was arrested who, bypassing sanctions, supplied American microcircuits and other high-tech products to Russia. He faces up to 20 years in prison.