The Belarusian holding “Izovaс” and its associated European companies, whose products were purchased by “Apple”, “Samsung”, “LG”, and “Tesla”, supplied Russia with $200 million worth of components and equipment for the production of optics from the beginning of the Russian Federationʼs full-scale invasion in February 2022 until at least July 2024.
This is stated in a joint investigation by the Schemes project (Radio Liberty), the Belarusian Investigative Center, the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), the Lithuanian publication 15min.lt, and the publication Vazhnye istorii, with the support of the hacker group "Cyberpartisans".
According to journalists, “Izovaс” supplied both its own and Western-made goods, the resale of which to Russia is prohibited by sanctions. These high-tech products were received by Russian defense enterprises, in particular by the “Rostec” group, the countryʼs largest arms manufacturer.
Journalists obtained data from Russian customs and tax databases. They claim that at least 30 companies of the Russian military-industrial complex, including “Rostec”, were customers of the Belarusian “Izovaс” and one of its subsidiaries, “InterNanoTekhnologii”, from 2022 to 2024. At the same time, 22 of these companies are currently under Western sanctions.
These are mainly manufacturers of high-explosive fragmentation shells, fire control systems for tanks and aircraft, reconnaissance complexes, drones, and combat avionics. Among the goods they purchased from Belarusian companies: a manufacturer of military optical sights — lenses; a manufacturer of cruise missile homing devices — light filters; a manufacturer of long-range rifles — glass elements and vacuum equipment.
"The supply of such installations and other dual-use products to the Russian Federation is prohibited [by sanctions]. It is worth noting that, for example, such vacuum installations are very important for the production of weapons," said a researcher at the Kyiv School of Economics on sanctions issues Olena Bilousova.
According to Bilousova, Belarusian “Izovaс” and “InterNanoTekhnologii” may fall under sanctions from Western countries for two reasons at once: for selling banned goods to Russia and for trading with Russian companies already under sanctions. Among the latter is, for example, NM-Tech.
Moscow-based NM-Tech has been under US and European Union sanctions since 2022. Until January 2024, the company stated that it was “saturating the civilian market with a modern electronic component base”, and then added a completely different profile to its areas of activity — the production of weapons and ammunition.
From November 2022 to August 2023, the Russian NM-Tech received goods worth almost $6 million from the Belarusian “Izatek-M”, which is part of the “Izovac” holding. Most of them are dual-purpose, such as American equipment for the production of microcircuits that are in short supply in Russia. The supply of such goods to the Russian Federation is prohibited by US export control rules.
Journalists have established that the American equipment reached Russia via China. The Hong Kong firm “Smart Kit Technology”, through the Russian company “Engineering Group”, sold this installation to the Belarusian “Izatek-M” (both related to “Izovac”), which in turn sold it to the Moscow-based NM-Tech. Shortly after that, in August 2024, “Engineering Group” was hit with US sanctions. NM-Tech alone paid “Engineering Group” almost $106 million in 2022-2023.
Journalists found other clients of “Engineering Group” related to the production of weapons, such as the “Kalibr” cruise missile guidance systems. Of the 35 established defense enterprises, half are part of “Rostec”. In total, “Engineering Group” fulfilled military contracts worth $181 million in 2022-2024.
In the first two years after the start of Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, the revenue of the Belarusian group “Izovac” itself doubled, and in 2024 it increased by 36%, according to information obtained by journalists from the Russian tax base.
Since April 2022, in order to circumvent US and EU sanctions, the holding company has begun to disguise itself and removed the word “Izovac” from the names of its affiliated foreign companies. For example, the Lithuanian company “Izovac Photonics” has become “i-Photonics”. However, as journalists have established, despite the name change, “i-Photonics” may still be associated with the Belarusian “Izovac”. The latterʼs website redirects the user to the “i-Photonics” website. Meanwhile, the director of the Lithuanian company worked in the Belarusian companies of the “Izovac” group until at least September 2024, and the Lithuanian “i-Photonics” was founded by the sons of the “Izovac” founders.
In response to a journalistʼs request, “i-Photonics” stated that the company is independent and is only connected to “Izovac” through past activities. Despite the fact that the Izovac group of companies is formally private — owned by three Belarusian citizens and has no state capital — its support for Russian defense enterprises may reflect the loyalty of Alexander Lukashenkoʼs regime to the Kremlin, believes the Secretary General of the Independent Anti-Corruption Committee for Defense Elena Tregub.
“Izovac” has previously collaborated with global technology giants such as “Apple”, “Samsung”, and “Tesla”. Journalists sent inquiries to the international partners of the “Izovac” group and asked them to comment on the revealed facts of cooperation between their Belarusian contractor and Russian defense enterprises. At the time of publication of the investigation, journalists had not received responses from these companies.
Ukrainian defense companies also worked with “Izovac”, but stopped working with it after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By 2022, the Belarusian technology holdingʼs clients included Kyiv-based “Luch” design bureau and Chernihiv region-based “Progress” research and production enterprise, according to data from the import-export database “ImportGenius”, which is available to journalists.
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