For allegedly supplying satellite footage of Ukraine to help the paramilitary Wagner Group’s military activities for Russia, the USA has penalized a Chinese corporation.
16 organizations have been given restrictions by the Treasury Department, including the Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute. Spacety China, another name for the company, has headquarters in Beijing and Luxembourg.
USA Disrupts Russian Support System
Wagner provides thousands of warriors to Russia for the Ukraine War. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite photos of areas in Ukraine were given to Terra Tech, a technology company with offices in Russia, by Spacety China, according to a statement released on Thursday by the USA Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The statement read, “These photographs were obtained to support Wagner’s military actions in Ukraine.” The division has also penalized Spacety’s business in Luxembourg. Any transfer, payment, or export of property or interests in the United States to the targeted entities is prohibited by the sanctions. Spacety China has not yet reacted to the action.
China, a strong friend of Russia, has made an effort to present itself as a third party in the conflict in Ukraine. The US and its allies have criticized it for failing to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SAR is a kind of radar method that employs smaller antennas to produce images with higher resolution. According to the corporate website, Yang Feng, the chief executive officer, is a member of the panel of experts for China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
The website also includes several collaboration partners, such as the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and state-owned businesses China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation. In contrast to Spacety China, the USA imposed sanctions on 15 additional organizations, eight people, and four planes, many of which are headquartered in Russia and are allegedly connected to Wagner’s international support network.
These include the central African-based Sewa Security Services and the United Arab Emirates-based Kratol Aviation, which reportedly provided planes to transport troops and supplies between central Africa, Libya, and Mali.
