British firms are likely to raise eyebrows as it has been revealed that they are among the 100 firms exporting aircraft parts to Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine war.
New customs data analysis shows products worth more than $50m have passed through intermediaries in India to Russian airlines and other entities over a 21-month period up to September 2024.
The parts were sent in 700 individual cargoes containing items ranging from critical generators, sensors, propeller blades and cockpit displays to small screws, bolts and filters.
It comes after the UK government raised concerns in January when issuing new guidance for exporting businesses on “countering Russian sanctions evasion”. Firms were told to “undertake due diligence to ensure that the end destination of these products is not Russia”.
David Tannenbaum, a sanctions compliance expert and partner Pole Star Global, said western governments had targeted intermediaries in Turkey and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan but that India had not been a major focus.
Tannenbaum said: “It’s been a game of whack-a-mole for [the authorities]. They seem to be using sanctions primarily to try and sort of target the intermediaries but those entities are replaceable, right? It’s not even that the companies are [always] newly created.”
