From February 2022 to July 2024, Belarusians sold Russia components for the production of military optics worth over $200 million through sanctions evasion schemes. The main customers are more than 30 Russian defense companies, most of which have long been on the EU and US blacklists. Among them are Rostec branches, manufacturers of shells, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, and guidance systems.

Lenses, light filters, and vacuum equipment are important parts of modern warfare. These components went, in particular, to:

• manufacturers of optical sights;
• homing systems for cruise missiles;
• sniper rifles and combat electronics.

To circumvent the sanctions pressure, Izovac began “rebranding” in April 2022: affiliated companies in Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Germany changed their names, removing any mention of Izovac. For example, Izovac Photonics became i-Photonics – everything is unsuspicious on the documents; however, in reality, they supply products to the front.

Earlier, we showed how Russia is building raw material autonomy for war.