Russia has doubled its imports of nitrocellulose, an explosive substance critical to the production of artillery ammunition. Despite the sanctions, the Russian Federation receives it, in particular, from companies based in the USA and other Western countries.
This is reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Russian imports of nitrocellulose increased by 70% in 2022 and stood at 3,039 tonnes in mid-2023, almost double the 2021 level.
Nitrocellulose, which is also used in inks, varnishes and paints, is a scarce substance and only a few countries in the world produce it. In addition, it is subject to restrictions on international trade. Russia itself does not produce enough nitrocellulose.
China has increased supplies of the compound to Russia following US and European Union sanctions banning any exports to the Russian military. However, among those who have been supplying nitrocellulose to Russia for the past two years, there are also companies from the USA, Germany and Taiwan.
At the same time, the spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Liu Pengyu, states that Beijing "does not sell weapons to the parties involved in the war in Ukraine, and takes a balanced approach to the export of dual-purpose goods."
Over the past two years, Russia has purchased nitrocellulose from Taiwan for almost $700,000. And the importer is Analytical Marketing Chemical Group, a permanent partner of the Russian Kazan State Gunpowder Plant, which produces weapons.
The director of the "Analytical Marketing Chemical Group" said in a comment to the publication that the company has not supplied nitrocellulose for defense enterprises since 2019, but imports it for civilian purposes.
As noted in the WSJ, one small company in Turkey — Noy İç Ve Diş Ti̇caret — is responsible for almost half of Russian imports of nitrocellulose since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before the Russian invasion, Turkey accounted for less than 1% of Russian imports of nitrocellulose.
One of the largest manufacturers of food flavors, the American company International Flavors & Fragrances, sold at least 80 tons of nitrocellulose to Turkeyʼs Noy, which then shipped it to Russia last year. International Flavors & Fragrances said they were "surprised" to learn that their nitrocellulose was being shipped to a third country.
The company says its product does not have enough nitrogen to make it suitable for military use. However, the nitrogen content of civilian nitrocellulose can still be increased to weapons grade, said Michelle Pantoya, a professor of mechanical engineering at Texas Tech University.
The Taiwanese company TNC Industrial produced more than 500 tons of the mixture, which the Turkish company Noy again sent to Russia last year. Hagedorn-NC, which has been producing nitrocellulose in Germany for more than a century, has produced a similar amount of the compound that Noy has been shipping to Russia for the past two years.
Due to the global shortage of nitrocellulose, its export to Russia is slowing down the production of artillery by NATO countries for Ukraine, the WSJ claims. At the same time, American analysts say that for greater effectiveness restrictions should be introduced against the companies supplying this substance.