Western sanctions have only partially restricted the flow of foreign goods and services to Russia. In a number of cases, foreign companies unwittingly help the Kremlin to carry out its aggressive policy: someone’s microchips reach Russian military factories through third countries, others’ construction materials are used to build buildings in the occupied territories.
But there are also such companies that consciously continue to work with the regime of Vladimir Putin.
“The thirst for profit means that after the start of the war in Ukraine, business (in Russia) continues… Money flows freely and everyone is happy,” a former top executive of the small PGA company told Le Parisien newspaper. This French division of the American Astronics group deals with avionics – flight, navigation and communication electronic systems that are installed on board an aircraft.
PGA still operates the VIP jets – Il-96 or Superjet-100 of Dmitry Medvedev, Sergei Shoigu, Dmitry Peskov, and even Putin himself, as well as two planes of the Federal Security Service (FSB – the successor to the KGB), shows investigation by Le Parisien.
Russian specialists have not yet mastered the system, which controls all on-board electronics from the cockpit, but for the “aircraft of the warmongers” it is particularly important, the newspaper explains. Thus, in the event of a failure, the open-air conference room connecting, for example, the Minister of Defense with the Chief of the General Staff, will cease to function.
Although the EU imposed tough sanctions on the aviation sector after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, PGA has since earned 4-5 million euros in Russia, the equivalent of equipping seven planes, the company’s former top manager, who remains in the course of its activities thanks to its connections in professional circles. PGA specialists not only carry out remote diagnostics of the system, but also supply the components necessary for its operation. Thus, in December 2023, Moscow placed an order for electronic equipment worth 1 million euros. According to the newspaper’s source, it should be delivered this year – “secretly, of course”.
To circumvent the sanctions, the PGA sends equipment kits – cameras, cables, electronics – to an old Soviet base near Armenia’s capital Yerevan, and from there they are transported to Moscow. There, at a military airport on the outskirts of the Russian capital, the equipment is installed under the remote supervision of French specialists, says the former top manager of the PGA. This is confirmed by trackers that are attached to the cargo.
“The company’s technicians in Chateauroux (the city in central France where the PGA is located) understand that their customers, and therefore the planes they equip, are in Moscow, not Yerevan,” the source said.
PGA makes financial settlements with its Russian clients through Dubai.
Last summer, executives of the Ommic company were arrested in France for transferring secret technology used in the military industry to China and Russia. Investigators estimate that after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Ommic supplied a Russian state arms company with dual-use semiconductors worth 11.8 million euros. The complex scheme involved sending them through China. Delivery routes were also laid through Lithuania, India and Turkey.
In early April 2024, heroes in an investigation by the German publication ARD Monitor became the manufacturer of building materials Knauf and WKB Systems, which equips factories for the production of concrete blocks. Their products were used to rebuild the occupied Mariupol. Knauf is also involved in a residential building project commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Knauf said it condemned the war and that products made in Russia were intended “exclusively for the Russian market”. However, the company decided to leave Russia and transfer the business to the local management, writes The Moscow Times.
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