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Russia has set up a covert weapons program in China, Reuters reports.
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China is helping Russia develop attack drones for use in its war with Ukraine, Reuters reported.
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If the report is confirmed, it will not come as a surprise to the West, experts told BI.
Russia is working with China to build long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine, Reuters reports.
The report alleged that Russia had set up a secret weapons program in China, citing documents and two anonymous sources from a European intelligence agency.
Experts in the region told Business Insider that while such a partnership has not been made public before, it is plausible and could have been expected.
According to Reuters reports, IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, has developed and tested a long-range attack drone in China, dubbed the Garpiya-3 (G3).
Reuters reported, citing reports Kupol sent to the Russian Defense Ministry earlier this year, that the drones were developed with the help of local specialists in China.
According to another Kupol report, G3s and other drones could be mass-produced at the Chinese factory for the war in Ukraine.
The outlet also wrote that it had seen invoices showing that Kupol had received seven military drones made at its factory in China and sent to its headquarters in the Russian city of Izhevsk.
Two of those were G3 models, the company said.
The G3 can fly about 1,930 kilometers (1,200 miles) with a payload of 50 kilograms (110 pounds), Reuters wrote, citing the Kupol reports.
In addition, Kupol reports said the Chinese factory could produce another drone with a payload of 400 kg within eight months, according to Reuters.
According to European intelligence services, this would be comparable to an American Reaper drone.
China’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters it was not aware of any such project.
Business Insider has not independently verified the Reuters report. However, two experts told BI it is plausible.
“It is absolutely likely — almost certain — that Russia-China cooperation at the military and technical levels is deeper than is generally reported,” said James Nixey, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the London think tank Chatham House.
The West “should not be surprised” by the recently reported closer cooperation, he added.
China claims to be neutral in the war with Ukraine. But its partnership with Russia is growing — including helping Russia’s sanctions-hit economy by buying huge amounts of oil and collaborating on flashy joint military exercises.
But before the Reuters report, it was thought that China had no plans to transfer complete weapons systems to Russia.
Nixey said it’s a matter of steps.
The U.S. has long accused China of aiding Russia’s war effort by supplying dual-use components that could be used in weapons production. Nixey said it would be “naive” to assume otherwise.
On September 11, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accused China of directly supplying military components.
The new report will make it “increasingly difficult” for the West to ignore the ways in which China is helping Russia during the war, Sari Arho Havrén, a senior lecturer specializing in China’s foreign relations at the Royal United Services Institute, told BI.
“I think we’re moving towards a situation where this simply cannot be ignored any longer,” she said.
Officially, the EU’s position is to impose sanctions on countries that provide military aid to Russia, she said. But Brussels is not prepared to do that to China.
Sanctions are “absolutely China’s fear,” Nixey said.
If that happens, “China’s well-oiled machine suddenly gains traction, because secondary sanctions prevent China from participating in the global economy, which it must do if it wants to continue growing,” he continued.
Yet China’s motives for working so closely with Russia are clear, he said.
Although the two countries do not share the same worldview, Russia’s war in Ukraine poses a major challenge to Western preparedness and influence, something China finds extremely useful.
“Let’s be absolutely clear: China does not want Russia to lose this war,” Nixey said. “That would not be in China’s interest.”
The war, he said, “is a symbol and a precursor of Western capacity, Western backbone and Western political will to defend the rules-based international order.”
The West has reacted with concern to the latest news.
NATO spokesman Farah Dakhlallah told Reuters: “These reports are deeply worrying and allies are discussing this issue.”
“The Chinese government has a responsibility to ensure that its companies do not provide lethal aid to Russia,” Dakhlallah added. “China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since World War II without its interests and reputation being affected.”
But according to Nixey, the West should have done much more.
“We should have planned for this earlier,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to hope that it doesn’t happen. That’s crazy.”
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