{"id":18603,"date":"2024-04-03T09:32:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T09:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=18603"},"modified":"2024-04-03T12:38:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T12:38:28","slug":"russian-tech-company-planar-defies-sanctions-as-its-american-subsidiary-supplies-us-air-force-and-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/russian-tech-company-planar-defies-sanctions-as-its-american-subsidiary-supplies-us-air-force-and-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian tech company Planar defies sanctions as its American subsidiary supplies US Air Force and NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"

During Russia’s war against Ukraine and its geopolitical confrontation with the West, Moscow has learned not only to circumvent sanctions to procure the necessary technical equipment but also to jointly produce technological products for the American market. These are the findings of our OSINT investigation and materials from the array of documents posted online by the well-known Ukrainian hacktivists Cyber Resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In this feature, we are looking the cooperation of the Russian manufacturer Planar, based in Chelyabinsk, and its American subsidiary Copper Mountain Technologies. The companies are conducting joint international operations, unhindered by severe sanctions imposed on Planar for its “ties to Prigozhin” (the murdered leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner which was accused of war crimes in Ukraine, Syria, and Africa<\/em>) and thus for its involvement in Putin’s war machine and his war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the cooperation between the Russian and American firms had been quite public before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s troops, as there were no sanctions in place. There is enough open-source data online<\/a> on their cooperation.<\/p>\n

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Quotes from Planar\u2019s report:<\/p>\n

“We have recently developed a new model of a frequency synthesizer up to 20 GHz with very high performance and plan to launch it in September. This is actually an analog of a synthesizer that was previously produced by Phase Matrix, which is now a division of National Instruments. We expect that over time we may be able to enter the international market with this product. Our example here is the well-known Russian companies Planar (Chelyabinsk) and Morion (St. Petersburg). For example, Planar, which produces telecommunications and measuring equipment, together with its partners, opened Copper Mountain Technologies in the United States and successfully sells its products and solutions on the American market.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Sanctions on Planar after Putin launched a full-scale war against Ukraine<\/h2>\n

Planar faced sanctions in the first months after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government imposed the sanctions<\/a> in response to Russia’s deliberate and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. “These far-reaching sanctions target a wide range of Russian military enterprises, including enterprises that develop and manufacture fighter jets, infantry fighting vehicles, electronic warfare systems, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles for the Russian military. The sanctions strike at the heart of Putin’s military machine.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Planar Limited Liability Company manufactures and supplies electronic components and equipment. Thus, it participates in benefiting from and supporting the Russian government by conducting business in the electronics sector, which is of strategic importance to the Russian government.”<\/p>\n

In March 2022, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed<\/a> sanctions on Planar. Switzerland<\/a> and Germany<\/a>, among other countries, also joined them. For some reason Planar is still not on the EU’s general blacklist.<\/p>\n

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However, sanctions imposed on Planar did not spell an end for the cooperation with its US subsidiary, Copper Mountain Technologies, but only pushed it to become non-public and switch to shadow schemes using newly created shell companies as intermediaries.<\/p>\n

On its official website<\/a>, Planar boasts<\/a> being a developer and manufacturer of world-class high-tech electronics. The company was founded in 1992 in Chelyabinsk by several engineers specializing in microwave electronics. In 2003, the Russians shipped the first analyzers of their own design abroad, and by 2022, Planar had already held about 10% of the global market for these devices, according to the company’s own data.<\/p>\n

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Planar employs more than 400 people, running its own development and production centers in Chelyabinsk and Tomsk equipped with the latest equipment, as well as representative offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Copper Mountain Technologies is its fully-owned subsidiary in the United States.<\/p>\n

Planar\u2019s products for Russia\u2019s defense industry<\/h2>\n

The link between Planar’s products and the Russian defense industry could be traced in the leaked contracts shared by the Cyber Resistance group.<\/p>\n

The Russian supplier Protekh made a commercial offer<\/strong> to the Special Technology Center (STC) for supplying advanced technologies and electronics. The list included the C4420 50\u03a9 vector circuit analyzer (100 kHz – 20.0 GHz, 4-port (S11\u2013S44), frequency range extension) produced by Planar.<\/p>\n

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The Special Technology Center (STC) is a Russian defense enterprise located in St. Petersburg. It is under Western sanctions for helping Russia’s war efforts. Earlier this year, it was hit by a massive data leak<\/a>, which resulted in Ukraine’s military intelligence obtaining nearly 100 gigabytes of secret technological documentation.<\/p>\n

In the leaked STC documents, Ukraine got access to detailed data on the Orlan-10, Inokhodets UAVs, Svet-KU and Leer-3 EW systems, and hundreds of pieces of military equipment. These documents prove that the STC is in charge of providing Russian weapons manufacturers with the required parts and advanced technologies, whereas the leaked commercial offer shows that STC needs Planar’s products.<\/p>\n

Planar and CMT products are identical<\/h2>\n

An analysis of Planar and Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) devices and components makes it clear that they have identical products. The appearance and specifications are identical, as are the names and item numbers.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the series, color, or even the design are slightly different. They are probably customized for certain markets with the name of the official manufacturer. However, they are produced with identical technical specifications and under common inventory names of “CABAN” and “COBALT” series.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the calibration for American CMT technologies takes place in Russia, in Chelyabinsk. Here is an example of a calibration certificate<\/a> for CMT technology, with the calibration location at the Chelyabinsk plant.<\/p>\n

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Patents for the products of the twin companies in the US and Russia<\/h2>\n

What about patents for high-tech products? It turns out that CMT and Planar have registered almost identical patents for identical products in the United States and Russia. We are talking about the Measurement module of virtual vector network analyzer.<\/p>\n

In Russia, the patent<\/a> belongs to TAIR, and the authors are Sergey Zaostrovnykh, Vladimir Semibratov, and Oleg Morozov. At the same time, Sergey Zaostrovnykh is on the management teams of the Russian and American companies. At Planar, he is a director, while at \u0421MT, he is the CTO and the founder of the company.<\/p>\n

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In the United States, CMT holds a similar patent authored by a group of developers, including Zaostrovnykh from Chelyabinsk, as well as his colleagues Ryzhov, Bakurov, and Ivashchenko. They are joined by CMT Managing Director Alex Goloshchokin, a US citizen of Russian descent registered in Indianapolis, United States.<\/p>\n

Technical documentation<\/a> from the American company Texas Instruments confirms the identity of the Planar and CMT products, which were found in samples of Russian weapons used by Putin’s army against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a fast method for in-circuit or in-device embedded antenna verification\/checking. Users can verify or check if the antenna has desired resonant frequency, matching or bandwidth without any soldering. For this task a reflectometer (or VNA), flexible high-quality cable, handmade pigtail and standard calibration kit need to be used. An example below is made by using the CABAN R60 reflectometer (cable and antenna analyzer) made by PLANAR LLC (or R60 model by Copper Mountain Technologies) and R VNA Software application.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"American<\/a><\/p>\n

Planar and CMT share joint technical documentation<\/h2>\n

At the same time, Planar’s documentation<\/a> still describes the process of downloading the English-language product guide on the CMT website, which indicates the identity of the software and hardware. To quote:<\/p>\n

“The VNA Performance Test software is distributed free of charge and is available for download on the PLANAR website. The program supports two interface languages: Russian and English. To download the English version, you need to go to the Copper Mountain Technologies website.” <\/em><\/p>\n

\"To<\/a><\/p>\n

Apparently, CMT software is compatible with Planar products, and we are looking here at a single company with offices in two countries engaged in a geopolitical conflict with each other due to the Putin regime’s war against Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian company is subject to sanctions that should have blocked any cooperation.<\/p>\n

Alex Goloschokin, the CEO of CMT confirmed in an interview<\/a> with the media the fundamental connection between Planar and CMT:<\/p>\n

“Our company is named after a different Copper Mountain, which is located in the South Ural Mountain Ridge [in central Russia]. Chelyabinsk, home to our manufacturing facility, is located in this region… Our vector-network-analyzer (VNA) development team counts 15 engineers. And there are over 70 highly qualified technicians in the VNA production line and quality control. Our Indianapolis facility conducts global business development and sales activities. Customer support is also provided by two of our engineers in Indianapolis.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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In another speech, even before the full-scale war, in 2020, Goloshchokin also mentions “Copper Mountain in the Urals” and describes<\/a> the work of the development team in Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the almost 10 years since introducing that first USB VNA, CMT has grown to some 65 on staff \u2014 and growing \u2014 with headquarters in Indianapolis and a large development team based in the Ural Mountains of Russia, near The Copper Mountain, the oldest mine in the Urals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Job postings reveal continued cooperation after sanctions against Planar<\/h2>\n

Planar’s job postings evidence the ongoing cooperation between Russian and American technology companies. The company states<\/a> that it is “a partner of Copper Mountain Technologies, a global supplier of vector analyzers in 100 countries” (10 percent of the total market).<\/p>\n

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Planar’s partner, TAIR, also claims<\/a> to have an overseas partnership in its recruitment, and in particular, it has published a vacancy for a C++ Programmer (Junior), who can theoretically work remotely for both the sanctioned Planar and American Copper Mountain Technologies. We quote the presentation:<\/p>\n

\"Planar's<\/a><\/p>\n

“SIC TAIR is a partner of PLANAR and Copper Mountain Technologies in the development and production of vector analyzers, microwave components, and measuring systems. The companies have combined and directed their efforts and capabilities toward the development of the electronic industry.”<\/p>\n

Another partner, SINECTA, based in Tomsk, has a similar vacancy<\/a> for a software developer.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

Shell companies help continue cooperation circumventing sanctions<\/h2>\n

How do Planar and CMT manage to cooperate without subjecting the American company to secondary sanctions? Are there shell companies for trade and technology transfers?<\/p>\n

Our OSINT research has found at least one. Sotis LLC exports Planar technology to various countries, mostly to intermediary firms in China, as evidenced by export statistics (source<\/a>, source<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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EXPORTER<\/strong>: COMPANY “SOTIS”<\/p>\n

454091, CHELYABINSK REGION, G. CHELIABINSK, UL. ELKINA, 32.<\/p>\n

BUYER<\/strong>: ARKOS TRADING PTE LTD<\/p>\n

409051, SINGAPORE, 60 PAYA LEBAR ROAD #12-04, PAYA LEBAR SQUARE.<\/p>\n

DESCRIPTION<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

ELECTRONIC DEVICES DESIGNED FOR MEASURING PARAMETERS OF TELEVISION SIGNALS OF ANALOG AND DIGITAL CABLE TELEVISION, GENERAL CIVIL APPLICATION:<\/p>\n

HS-CODE: 9030893000<\/p>\n

TRADEMARK: PLANAR<\/p>\n

PRODUCER: PLANAR<\/p>\n

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SYNECTA is a joint Cypriot subsidiary of Planar and CMT<\/h2>\n

In addition, there is another company in the supply chain and cooperation\u2014SYNECTA. It develops software for CMT and Planar products, which once again proves their identity. At the same time, in presentations<\/a>, SYNECTA is generally referred to as part of CMT.<\/p>\n

On its own website, SYNECTA is positioned<\/a> as part of the PLANAR cluster and declares only “partnerships” with CMT.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the general manager of SYNECTA, Alexey Surkov, also introduces himself on his LinkedIn<\/a> profile as the head of ITC Europe, working from an office in Cyprus.<\/p>\n

So what about CMT? We also found<\/a> Surkov on the CMT website. There, he is presented as the manager of the office in Cyprus of CMT Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Surkov<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Russia, Surkov represents<\/a> the SYNECTA company in Tomsk, where Planar has its own production.<\/p>\n

\"Surkov<\/a><\/p>\n

A financial report<\/a> published on 28.02.2024, confirms the accuracy of the information regarding the company\u2019s officers.<\/p>\n

Founders and members:<\/strong><\/p>\n