China provided Russia with $12M worth of drones in one year.

After February 24, 2022, China had sold more than $12M worth of drones and spare parts to Russia, NYT sources say. This equipment originated from more than 70 Chinese exporters who have sold 26 different brands of UAVs to the aggressor country during the war.

According to customs data, products from the most famous drone manufacturer, DJI, accounted for almost half of the supply of Chinese drones to Russia. Some of them were sold directly by DJI through iFlight Technology, a subsidiary of DJI.

DJI insists it has no record of any direct sales to Russia since April 16, 2022, and promises to “investigate” the involvement of other firms that may have sold drones and parts to the Russians.

Representatives of Autel, which has subsidiaries in the US, Germany, and Italy, also said they were unaware of any sales to Russia and were conducting an internal investigation into the matter. However, journalists write that exporters sold almost $2 million in UAVs from Autel with the last batch shipped in February 2023.