Over 20,000 sanctions have been levied against Russia since it invaded Ukraine – but that hasn’t stopped EU companies from trading with it, propping up its war-time economy.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of Kyiv Post articles on how Russia evades sanctions to wage its war against Ukraine.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin called the new T-90M Proryv “the best tank in the world” last year, he lauded the country’s military leadership and manufacturing sector for working together to produce the hardware needed to fulfill Russia’s imperialist objectives abroad. Few would have believed that the tank, now seen regularly on the battlefield in occupied Ukraine, is reportedly constructed with tools and parts sourced from across the world – including European countries that have issued expansive economic sanctions against Russia aimed at preventing such cooperation.
Roughly 20,000 sanctions have been levied against Russian companies and individuals by the US, EU, and allies since the country began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
And yet a small manufacturing company in central Italy, M.T. Marchetti (M.T.S.R.L.), is allegedly responsible for providing the machine parts used to construct the high-tech sights of T-90Ms that enable troops to visualize their surroundings from inside the vehicle, according to an investigation by The Insider. Without the sights, Russian soldiers would essentially be operating blind, dependent on drones controlled by a paired unit for eyes on the ground. The contributions from Italy are essential to the tank’s construction.
Voice of Ukraine 