Roman Steblivskyi, Anna Holishevska, Inna Popovych

In 2023, the Russian manufacturers of shoes for security forces, namely Donobuv, Faradey, Iskozh and Yunichel, have directly imported produce of European companies worth 4.1 million dollars. These goods include leather, glue, spare parts for shoe making equipment, etc. This is what Trap Aggressor project of the StateWatch think tank reports with reference to data of commercial databases.  

The largest European suppliers include: 

• Italian company Conceria Cervinia Spa ($1.7 million);
• Belarus and German joint venture Belintertrans Germany Gmbh ($0.9 million);
• German company Neuhaus Gmbh ($0.7 million).

Trap Aggressor reporters, having researched samples of Russian shoes found by the Ukrainian military in the battle field and in the de-occupied territories, identified army boots made by the aforementioned companies. Then they started studying supply depots and procurements of companies that made these shoes in EU countries.

The Russian Donobuv manufacturer publicly informed of cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Defense on its website. In their video interview to Russian media in 2022, managers of the companies said that they were working on state orders for Russian servicemen, working in three shifts. In 2023, the German Salamander Sps Gmbh & Co Kg, which directly provided Donobuv with leather for the amount of $60, 000, became the key supplier of this Russian company.

It is rather clear from the ethical point of view. European companies, which are not concerned where they ship their goods, provides shoes to the Russian army. Consequently, Russian servicemen wear army boots made from high-quality European leather instead of valenki (felt boots) and jackboots. 

A few words must be said about the legal aspect of this story. EU restricted trading operations with Russia to certain items of goods of, for example, military or double use, rather than applied full-scale embargo. The EU list of goods of double use included the categories such as Nuclear Materials, Means and Equipment, Special Materials and Equipment, Processing of Materials, Electronics, Computers, Telecommunications and Informational Security, Sensors and Lasers, Navigation and Avionics, Maritime, Aerospace and Propulsion Systems. Thus, leather, rubber, soles or other things needed to make shoes are not under prohibition. It means that, from the perspective of international trade, these goods are not used in the aggression of Russia against Ukraine and, therefore, maynbe sold by EU to Russia. 

Besides, the Russian shoe-makers have not found themselves under sanctions of the European Union despite the fact that some of them are on the Ukrainian sanctions lists. For example, Donobuv and Faradey have been under Ukrainian sanctions since May of 2023. EU sanctions imposed on these companies can merely complicate the trade rather than stop it.  As a matter of fact, with the existing manufacturers under sanctions, new Russian companies, which are not legally related to these manufacturers will arise to import all needed goods from the EU countries and sell them to these manufacturers.  

This story is just another piece of evidence that any produce which finds its way to Russia from the European market can become an instrument of the Russians in their war against Ukraine and Western world, and the “targeted sanctions” aimed at certain individuals are not capable of stopping the support of the Russian army with European goods. Is it possible to resolve this issue to weaken the Russian aggressor? Yes. There are two options here. The first one on to continue the ongoing hide-and-seek game, applying sanctions to separate supply chains, in particular against the aforementioned Russian wear manufacturers, or prohibit all countries of the European Union to conduct any trade with the Russian Federation.