precision equipment for Russian arms makers came from U.S.-allied Taiwan Moscow-based importer also sought to supply a secretive Kremlin effort to mass-produce attack drones, a Post examination found By Dalton Bennett , Mary Ilyushina , Lily Kuo and Pei-Lin Wu February 1, 2024 at 8:05 a.m. EST (Illustration by Natalie Vineberg/The Washington Post; Wojciech Grzedzinski/For The Washington Post; Felipe Dana/AP; Obtained by The Post; iStock)

It had been a busy year for the employees gathered in June for I Machine Technology’s corporate retreat at a resort on Russia’s Black Sea coast. With war raging in Ukraine, the Russian defense industry was hungry for the advanced manufacturing equipment the Moscow-based supplier specialized in importing.

Dressed in summer linens, chief executive Aleksey Bredikhin welcomed the crowd seated among plates of local delicacies and flutes of prosecco. He paused to recognize several guests who had traveled thousands of miles to join the festivities in Sochi.

“I especially want to welcome our friends from faraway Taiwan,” he said, video footage of the event posted online shows. “For almost a year now, we have been working very hard.”

Since January 2023, I Machine Technology has imported over $20 million of sophisticated equipment called CNC machine tools made in Taiwan, a U.S. strategic partner, according to trade records and Russian tax documents obtained by The Washington Post. The computer-controlled machines are used for the complex and precise manufacturing that is critical in many industries, including weapons production. Advertisement

The Taiwan-made machines accounted for virtually all of the Russian company’s imports in the first seven months of last year, according to the records, and the company’s sales during that period were overwhelmingly to the Russian defense industry. Bredikhin also sought to make the machines available for a secretive Russian effort to mass-produce the attack drones that have unleashed horrors on the U.S.-backed Ukrainian army, according to an invitation sent to one of the project managers overseeing engine construction for the drone program.

Taiwan is a U.S. strategic partner. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan has placed restrictions on exports to Russia. Post reporting finds that a Russian company, a supplier to arms makers, continued to import high-tech manufacturing equipment from Taiwan. The company sought to supply the machines to a secretive Russian effort to mass-produce attack drones, documents show.

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Kevin Wolf, a former senior Commerce Department official who once headed the agency that implements U.S. export controls, said shipments identified by The Post probably violated prohibitions Taiwan and the West imposed last January on the sale of technology to Russia, in response to the Ukraine war. He said the shipments should “absolutely” be an enforcement priority for authorities in Taiwan.

“This is why export controls against Russia were imposed,” he said. “You’ve got tools that are very important for making military items. You’ve got a lot of connection to military end uses and users. You have connections to drones. You’ve got a large dollar amount. This is a classic enforcement priority issue.” Advertisement

The shipments highlight how, despite a U.S.-led regime of global restrictions that is one of the most expansive in history, Russia’s defense industry has remained robust partly because of regulatory loopholes and lax enforcement. Critical goods have continued to flow directly to Russia, as well as through China and other countries that are not participating in the restrictions — including, in this case, goods that originated on a self-governed island that is allied with the United States.

“On the one hand, we appreciate the efforts taken by our partners so far to disrupt Russian supply chains,” said Vladyslav Vlasiuk, a sanctions expert and adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “At the same time, it is clearly not enough.”

The machines were sent in 63 separate shipments, according to Russian trade data obtained by The Post and export records provided by the Center for Advance Defense Studies, or C4ADS, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on global security. The first batches, worth $4.47 million, were sent directly to Bredikhin’s firm from a similarly named Taiwanese trading company, I Machine Tools. Yu Ming Je, who describes himself on LinkedIn as a sales director for the company, was among those Bredikhin paused to recognize at the retreat in Sochi. Yu was previously a co-owner of the Moscow-based firm, according to Russian business records. A video from June 2023 shows Taiwanese businessman Yu Ming Je at a corporate retreat hosted by the Russian CNC machine tool importer I Machine Technology. (Video: @i_machine_technology/Instagram)

By the end of May, the direct shipments of CNC machine tools to Russia ceased. The remaining equipment, worth $17.8 million, traveled a circuitous route. Though Bredikhin imported those shipments from Turkey or China, trade records show that the machines were manufactured by several other Taiwanese companies. Advertisement

Bredikhin acknowledged in a phone interview with The Post that he had for years imported CNC machine tools from I Machine Tools, but he denied doing so after the restrictions were put in place last January. He said the shipments after that point were for spare parts and so did not violate export controls.

“I’m not buying anything from them except for parts,” he said.

He did not respond after being given copies of trade records showing that in nearly every case his firm was importing complete CNC machine tools, some listed by model and trade code, and not merely parts.

After The Post contacted Bredikhin, dozens of posts were deleted from I Machine Technology’s Instagram account. Among them were images and videos of the Sochi retreat, of Yu with other Taiwanese executives and of Bredikhin visiting Taiwan. Advertisement

In an interview, Yu initially said that his company stopped all shipments to Bredikhin’s firm once Taiwan imposed export restrictions. After being told of the records gathered for this report, he acknowledged the shipments last year but said they involved parts that were not subject to export controls.

“You still have to do this kind of service, because when the sanctions are lifted in the future, we can still cooperate, instead of just cutting it off,” he said.

I Machine Tools-branded goods made up more than 40 of the shipments to I Machine Technology last year, including some that came via Turkey and China, according to Russian import records. Only several were for parts, the records indicate.

After those records were sent to him, Yu said that since export controls were imposed, “our company has no longer transacted with this dealer.” Advertisement

He also suggested that the records might not be authentic and said his firm has not been a supplier for the Chinese and Turkish companies that sent shipments to I Machine Technology.

He said he was not aware of I Machine Technology’s ties to the Russian military. “Distributors basically have many users,” he said. Security alignment

Taiwan has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, in April 2022, imposed controls on exports of technology to Russia. In January 2023, it expanded those measures to include certain CNC machine tools, making the controls “substantially equal to those of the E.U. and U.S., as well as in line with those of democratic allies,” Taiwan’s International Trade Administration said at the time.

The alignment occurred as Taiwan looks to the United States for security amid fears the island could be invaded by China. The response to Russian aggression in Ukraine is widely seen as one indicator of how the West might respond to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, giving Taipei added incentive to support Ukraine’s defense. Advertisement

“The current government in Taiwan does feel a strong motivation to signal clear support for a U.S.-led policy of restricting technology imports by Russia,” said John Dotson, deputy director of the Global Taiwan Institute. “They want to stake out that position to show their affinity with the United States to further shore up their own security relationship.”