The United States has accused and subjected to sanctions Spacety China, a company that develops space technology, for having sent the fighters of the Wagner brigade satellite images, used to select targets in the conflict
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT FROM BEIJING— There is the hand of a Chinese (private) company behind Russian Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine.
The United States has charged and subjected to sanctions Spacety Chinaa company that develops space technology and that would have delivered Wagner fighters satellite images of the territory of Ukraineused to select targets in warfare.
Spacety China (full name Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute) blacklisted by the US Treasury Department: the sanctions they prohibit any commercial or technological collaboration with the company, which has its headquarters in Beijing and a branch in Luxembourg (also embargoed by Washington).
According to the American investigation, the Chinese group would have provided satellite photos of the Ukrainian territory to Terra Tech, a Russian company, which in turn would have passed them to the command of Wagner.
Technically the images taken by Chinese satellites are defined non-lethal aids, because it’s not about weapons or ammunition. But the US Treasury report recalls that the photos have allowed Wagner to plan attacks and fights in Ukraine (even the Kiev army has images of the Russian deployment available, thanks to Western support, which allow precision attacks).
Spacety China formally a private companythough every industrial initiative in the People’s Republic is at least supervised by the government.
On its website, the company which has laboratories in Changsha in the province of Henan describes itself as a pioneer in the commercial supply of images obtained with Sar technology, which stands for synthetic aperture radar and in simple terms a system that allows images of the high definition earth. The Chinese firm prides itself on its ability to produce commercial satellites in micro, nano and small versions on a large scale.
Il February 4, 2022, three weeks before the Russian aggression to Ukraine, in Beijing Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin promised each other unlimited collaboration
.
Since Xi has never condemned the invasion and instead denounced the sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow. But China continued to define itself neutral in the conflict and according to American intelligence did not send war supplies to Russian friends.
Xi Jinping walks a thin line: he does not disavow his political friendship with Putin but wants to avoid secondary sanctions from the American side for Chinese state-owned industry.
Beijing’s concrete support yes limited (and not a little anyway) a a massive increase in the purchase of Russian gas and oil.
Now, however, Washington warns the Chinese on the front of non-lethal supplies useful for the continuation of the war. Sources in the Biden administration said they had a very firm exchange of views with the Chinese regarding these maneuvers, in which Chinese companies controlled directly by the party-state would also be involved.
January 28, 2023 (change January 28, 2023 | 1:58 pm)
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