The Russian defense industry continues to receive raw materials for titanium production from Ukraine. It might seem impossible in light of the full-scale and open Russian aggression. However, data obtained by RBC-Ukraine from insiders working in the titanium industry confirm that a significant portion of titanium raw materials exported from Ukraine ends up in Russia through intermediaries.
Inadequate export control measures
Ukraine holds vast reserves of titanium ores. According to calculations by the state-owned Joint Stock Company United Mining and Chemical Company, 20% of all global reserves of this raw material are concentrated in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Ukraine practically doesn’t manufacture metallic titanium or products from it. The exported material is in concentrate form, from which finished products are already being produced in other countries.
The concentrate itself comes in several types — rutile, ilmenite, zircon, disten-sillimanite, and staurolite. An important detail is that the State Service for Export Control of Ukraine for unclear reasons only controls the export of ilmenite concentrate, for which enterprises are required to obtain a corresponding permit (a so-called “ticket”). This type of raw material is recognized as “dual-use” (meaning it can be used in the military sphere). Other concentrates, for some reason, are exported without any control.
The export of titanium concentrates continues even during the war. From July of last year to April 2023, the Joint Stock Company United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC) has exported 82.2 thousand tons of ore containing titanium. According to information obtained from sources in the titanium industry, a significant portion of this production has ended up in the Russian Federation.
Intermediary companies and suspicious ownership
Particularly, batches of titanium concentrate were sold to intermediary companies in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, which have Russian citizens among their founders and work with Russia.
For instance, in July, August, and September of 2022, the Joint Stock Company United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC) supplied thousands of tons of concentrate to the Hungarian company Sic Luceat Lux KFT, founded by Crimean natives Alexander and Svitlana Muradyan (most likely just front persons).
Open sources indicate that the main counterparts of this company and the consignees in 2021-2022 were LLC Redmetkoncentrat (Moscow), LLC Nerudna kompaniya (Belgorod), LLC Minko Rus (Belgorod), and other Russian companies.
Thus, the mentioned company is evidently a Russian front, and the state-owned UMCC cannot be unaware of this fact.
Another example is the Polish company BioProfTech Sp.z.o.o, registered in Warsaw. Its founder is Ruslan Akopyan, registered in the occupied town of Khartsyzk in Donetsk Oblast. Akopyan holds Russian citizenship. This company received batches of ilmenite from Ukraine in the summer and fall of 2022.
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An even more striking situation involves another enterprise, the Zaporizhzhya Titanium-Magnesium Plant, which was previously owned by oligarch Dmytro Firtash and in 2021, by a court decision, was returned to state ownership (the decision is still in the process of implementation). Zaporizhzhya Titanium-Magnesium Plant is the only producer of sponge titanium in Ukraine. Unlike UMCC, it didn’t export just raw materials but essentially finished products — titanium sponge, titanium ingots, titanium tetrachloride, titanium slag. In 2022, the plant was nearly non-operational, but it was selling the products that were in its warehouses. In total, around 2 thousand tons of titanium products were sold, amounting to a total of 276.6 million hryvnias.
Companies from Montenegro, Austria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, which are connected to Russia and have Russian founders were among the buyers.
Specifically, the company Nadezda Invest D.o.o., registered in the city of Budva (Montenegro), emerged as a buyer of titanium tetrachloride, co-founded by Sergey Orekhov and Vladyslav Nechyporenko.
The Austrian company LL-Resources GmbH purchased sponge titanium from Zaporizhzhya Titanium-Magnesium Plant, with its director being Russian citizen Anatoly Zaitsev from St. Petersburg. He permanently resides in Austria and is a trusted individual of oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who, as known, previously owned Zaporizhzhya Titanium-Magnesium Plant (after the material was released, Group DF reached out to the editorial office of RBC-Ukraine demanding corrections to the text, emphasizing among other things that Zaitsev is not a trusted individual of Firtash).
As for titanium slag, in August 2022, it was purchased by the Czech company Cytleon S.r.o., co-founded by Russian citizen Leonid Cytlenok, registered in Moscow.
Urgent need for comprehensive action
The list of such examples can go on, but to avoid overwhelming the reader with numbers and company names, let’s limit ourselves to the aforementioned instances. These are sufficient to assert that state-owned enterprises, whether knowingly or due to negligence, are selling titanium products to front companies that then supply them to Russia. The most probable end consumers of this production are military plants. This includes the world’s largest titanium producer and manufacturer of titanium products, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, historically reliant on Ukrainian raw materials and continuing this reliance today. VSMPO-AVISMA’s products are extensively used by military factories, particularly in the production of aircraft, helicopters, guided missiles, and other goods.
Undoubtedly, the situation requires intervention at the highest level, thorough investigation, and establishment of control over the export of titanium raw materials. It’s entirely unclear why the State Service for Export Control of Ukraine currently doesn’t halt titanium exports to front companies working with Russia. It’s also difficult to explain why export permits are only required for ilmenite concentrates, while other types of products are allowed to be exported without control.
Certainly, during times of war, the export of titanium raw materials to Russia must be completely halted. The country should compile a list of reliable international companies to whom selling the raw materials would be permitted and prohibit selling to shell companies and various intermediaries, regardless of their country of registration.
Otherwise, Ukraine will continue inadvertently aiding its own enemy, which openly declares its intention to destroy Ukrainian statehood.
Originally posted by Denys Kazanskyi on RBC-Ukraine. Translated and edited by the UaPosition – Ukrainian news and analytics website
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