The report states that in early 2024, hackers breached the email servers of the Iranian company IRGC Sahara Thunder, obtaining a trove of data related to the production of Shahed-136 attack drones used by Russia in Ukraine. The documents included information on production lines in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone located in Russia’s Tatarstan.
The leak also revealed that Russian communications and documents refer to the drones as "motorboats." For instance, the Shahed-136, rebranded in Russia as Geran-2, is usually documented as “Dolphin 632 motorboat.”
To manufacture these drones, the Russians need epoxy resin, supplied to Alabuga by the Russian company Komposit-Izdelie, which, according to customs data, procured the material from two German companies: R&G Faserverbundwerkstoffe and Goettle Advanced Products GmbH & Co. Kg.
Read also: Ukrainian intelligence behind strike on Russian Shahed attack drone plant in Tatarstan, says source
These companies continued to supply epoxy resin to Russia even after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine — in 2022-2023. Journalists highlight that it was hard to overlook that Komposit-Izdelie was part of a holding closely associated with the Russian military-industrial complex.
Additionally, journalists discovered that Goettle Advanced Products GmbH & Co. Kg. trades almost exclusively with Russia. Its director, Jurgen Gottl, is a local council member from the political party Freie Wähler Königsbrunn (Free Voters of Königsbrunn), a member of the local construction committee, the sewage water association, entertainment and sports facilities, and is also part of the traffic monitoring commission.
The Freie Wähler party declares support for Ukraine but simultaneously opposes "some sanctions" against Russia "given the energy crisis" and calls for a "ceasefire." The party also deems Ukraine's desire to win the war naïve.
The other company, R&G Faserverbundwerkstoffe, likely supplied nearly 8,500 kilograms of epoxy resin in 2023, worth about $80,000. This is enough material to produce 337 drones, as 25 kilograms of the substance is required for each drone, according to the Alabuga leak.
This company also supplied epoxy resin to Ukrainian drone manufacturers. However, R&G Faserverbundwerkstoffe claimed they had never heard of the Russian company in question.
Goettle Advanced Products GmbH & Co. Kg., which initially promised to respond to journalists' inquiries, had not done so as of June 18.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Section: Nation
Author: Eric Malinowski
