Russia has turned to China as its sole supplier of critical minerals essential for arms production, including gallium and germanium, and as a primary source of antimony, following Western sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to an investigation by Schemes, a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service.
Following the Western sanctions on these minerals, imposed in April 2022—and which led to a sharp decline in shipments to Russia—by 2023 China, not bound by Western sanctions, continues its trade with Russia, becoming its only supplier of gallium and germanium, minerals used in night vision goggles, semiconductors, and infrared sensors.
As of the same year, Russia’s antimony supply, used in bullets, armor, and nuclear weapons, is split between China and the United Arab Emirates, where companies often bypass Western sanctions.
The investigation found nearly 20 Chinese companies supplying these minerals to Russia despite sanctions, with one-third having state ownership ties, according to company data obtained through OCCRP. Beijing officially denies aiding Moscow’s war effort, though NATO and Western officials accuse China of indirectly supporting Russia’s military.
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Schemes that the Chinese government exercises significant control over both state-owned and private companies involved in mineral extraction and sales.
“China has a high degree of control over the companies and state-owned enterprises within China,” Cooper said. "Even companies that are perhaps not owned by the Chinese government, may in many cases be fairly controlled by the Chinese government because the government is going to be able to affect their business decisions.”
Chinese minerals, according to the investigation, are flowing directly to Russian arms manufacturers, including state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. Leaked customs data shows China’s Yunnan Lincang Xinyuan Germanium Industry supplies germanium to Germanium JSC, a Rostec subsidiary, as well as through intermediaries. Other recipients include Foton, which develops combat gear, and the Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant, which makes optics for military aircraft.
Vital Technology Group, a partially state-owned Chinese firm, also supplies gallium, germanium, and antimony to Russian arms-linked companies. One, Ferrotec Nord, owned by Japan’s Ferrotec Holding, supplied in 2024 silicon wafers with antimony to Epiel, which produces microelectronics for Angstrem and Mikron, key suppliers to Russia’s defense sector.
Some of these minerals may even be reaching Russia’s nuclear weapons industry. Cryotrade Engineering, a Russian firm sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024, receives gallium from China’s Hynhe Technology Co. Ltd. The company’s state contracts have quadrupled since the beginning of war in Ukraine in 2022, and it continues working with Russian arms producers, including the Kurchatov Institute, which develops nuclear weapons.
Despite mounting sanctions, China’s continued supply of these minerals provides Moscow with critical resources for its military, reinforcing concerns that Beijing is enabling Russia’s war effort.
