By Ankit Panda
Given increasing Western sanctions, Moscow turns to Beijing for its defense and aerospace needs.
Facing sanctions from the West for its actions in Ukraine earlier this year, including the annexation of Crimea and supporting Ukrainian separatists, Russia will increasingly turn to China for its military and aerospace components. According to a RIA Novosti report citing a Russian-language report by Izvestia, “Russian aerospace and military-industrial enterprises will purchase electronic components worth several billion dollars from China.” The information is based on a source “close to Roscosmos, Russia’s Federal Space Agency.”
According to the Roscomos source: “[Russia does] work with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) … Its institutions have already offered us a few dozen items, representing a direct alternative to, or slight modifications of the elements [Russia] will no longer be able to acquire because of the sanctions introduced by the United States.” Currently, Russia’s extensive military and aerospace industries do not source their components in China. “Over the next two, two-and-a-half years, until Russian manufacturers put the necessary space and military electronic components into production, plans call for the purchase of such items from China amounting to several billion dollars,” the source adds.
Read the full story at The Diplomat