Exclusive-Chinese drone experts worked with sanctioned Russian arms maker, sources say

(Reuters) -Chinese drone experts have flown to Russia to conduct technical development work on military drones at a state-owned weapons manufacturer that is under Western sanctions, according to two European security officials and documents seen by Reuters. 

The Chinese experts have visited arms maker IEMZ Kupol on more than half a dozen occasions since the second quarter of last year. During that time, Kupol also received shipments of Chinese-made attack and surveillance drones via a Russian intermediary, according to the documents and two officials.

In September last year, Reuters documented that Kupol had developed a new drone, the Garpiya-3, in China with the help of local specialists. Now the news agency is the first to report specific details of the extensive involvement of Chinese experts in tests and technological work on military-use drones inside Russia.

The officials, who asked that neither they nor their organisation be identified due to the sensitivity of the information, said the collaboration suggested a deepening relationship between Kupol and Chinese companies in developing drones - which have proven to be critically important to Russia's war in Ukraine.

China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the collaboration. 

"China has always maintained an objective and fair position on the question of the Ukraine crisis, never providing lethal weapons to any party in the conflict and strictly controlling dual-use items, including drone exports," the ministry said in a statement.

The Kremlin, the Russian defence ministry, and IEMZ Kupol did not respond to requests for comment.

The documents, including business invoices and bank statements, showed that Kupol received more than a dozen one-way attack drones last year produced by Sichuan AEE, a Chinese drone maker. 

The drones were supplied by Russian defence procurement company TSK Vektor, which is under U.S. and EU sanctions, according to the officials and documents. TSK Vektor and Sichuan AEE did not respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. and European governments have repeatedly expressed concern at Chinese companies supplying Russian arms makers, and have imposed sanctions on some of them. 

Reuters reported in July that Kupol was producing thousands of Garpiya one-way attack drones using Chinese parts, including engines. Garpiyas - which are modelled on Iran's Shahed drone - can fly hundreds of miles to pre-programmed targets before diving out of the sky and exploding on impact. Kyiv has said around 500 are being used each month in Ukraine. 

The two European officials said the shipments of small numbers of Chinese attack drones and the presence of Chinese experts could indicate Kupol's interest in expanding production to new drone models.

Reuters was unable to confirm independently the reason behind the drone shipments, nor the exact nature of the work carried out by the Chinese experts.

Samuel Bendett, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, said China had become a vital part of Russia's military supply chain.

"There is just such an enormous role and influence and impact of Chinese components in Russian military systems...especially in aerial drones," Bendett said.

DELIVERIES OF CHINESE ATTACK DRONES

A letter from TSK Vektor to Kupol reviewed by Reuters showed that in the second quarter of 2024 the procurement company billed the weapons manufacturer for more than half a dozen drones produced by AEE. The European sources requested that specifics of the letter, as well as the other documents shown to Reuters, be withheld, including their dates. 

An AEE corporate document detailing shipments to TSK Vektor, seen by Reuters, confirmed the delivery of the A140 and A900 one-way attack drones. It also listed more than half a dozen other drones - the A60, A100 and A200 - due for delivery. 

Kupol reports seen by Reuters describe flight tests of the A60, A100 and A200 drones at the Chebarkul military test site in Russia's Chelyabinsk region in the last quarter of 2024.

A group of Chinese experts visited Kupol's facilities in the city of Izhevsk to assemble the drones and train Kupol staff to use them, a Kupol document said. The experts then visited Chebarkul, it added. Airline bookings seen by Reuters showed the Chinese experts were due to fly out of Chelyabinsk the day after the tests.

The letter and flight reports described the Chinese experts as employees of TSK Vektor, the Russian procurement company. However, the European officials said they assessed that the individuals were AEE staff. 

They cited AEE's response to feedback from the test flights of the A200 drones, reviewed by Reuters, which said it was drawing on information from AEE technicians.

Subsequently, AEE billed TSK Vektor more than 5 million yuan ($700,000) for several A200s fitted with anti-jamming equipment as well as other goods in the second quarter of 2025, according to an invoice and an account statement reviewed by Reuters. 

SECOND CHINESE COMPANY SUPPLIED DRONES 

In another Kupol link to a Chinese drone manufacturer, a flight test report approved by the Russian weapons manufacturer and TSK Vektor assessed the performance of an HW52V drone - made by Chinese firm Hunan Haotianyi - in the third quarter last year.

The HW52V is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone that can be used militarily for intelligence, surveillance and reconaissance, and as a strike drone, the European security officials said.

Air tickets seen by Reuters showed that Liu Mingxing, the CEO of Hunan Haotyanyi, and Artem Vysotksy, head of TSK Vektor's drone department, flew out of the Irkutsk airport in Siberia in adjacent seats in June following the last day of an event where the company's drones were displayed.

Hunan Haotyanyi and TSK Vektor did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters was unable to reach the executives.

A separate Kupol document from the third quarter last year described a visit to its facilities by Chinese citizens, including engineers and technical staff, described as TSK Vektor employees. 

The European security officials said they assessed that the Chinese citizens were staff of Hunan Haotianyi because several of the experts who visited Kupol on that occasion - and on other trips in 2024 and 2025 - had accompanied the Hunan Haotianyi CEO during his visit to Russia. Reuters couldn't confirm they were Hunan Haotianyi staff. 

The purpose of the experts' third-quarter visit, the document said, was to adapt a new Chinese flight control computer and a new engine for the Garpiya. 

Several other letters between Vektor and Kupol described over half a dozen week-long visits by Chinese and Russian experts in 2024 and 2025. The groups, the letters said, would be conducting work on a flight control computer. 

A final letter, which described a visit by Chinese experts from the same group in the third quarter of 2025, said they would also conduct work on a new drone, referred to as the GA-21. The European officials assess the GA-21 is a version of Iran's Shahed-107, which can be used for surveillance or as an attack drone.

($1 = 7.1086 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Editing by Daniel Flynn)