In March this year, a new firm appeared in the Corporate Registry of Turkey. Azu International Ltd Sti described itself as a wholesaler of IT products, and a week later began shipping US computer parts to Russia.
Trade was brisk, Russian customs records show. The United States and the European Union recently banned sales of sensitive technology to Russia because of the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and many Western tech companies suspended all deals with Moscow.
Co-founded by Göktürk Agvaz, a Turkish businessman, Azu International stepped in to help fill the supply gap. Over the next seven months, the company exported at least $20 million worth of components to Russia, according to Russian customs records, including chips made by American manufacturers.
Azu International’s booming business didn’t come from a sustainable start, Reuters reporting suggests: Agvaz manages a wholesaler of IT products in Germany called Smart Impex GmbH. Prior to the invasion, Russian customs records show the German company shipped American and other products to a Moscow customer who had recently imported goods from Ezu International.
Reached at its office near Cologne in October, Aguaz told Reuters that Smart Impex stopped exporting to Russia to comply with EU trade sanctions, but sells to Turkey, a non-EU country. Which does not apply to most of the West’s sanctions against Moscow. “We cannot export to Russia, we cannot sell to Russia, and therefore we only sell to Turkey,” he said. When asked about the sale of Aju International to Russia, he replied, “It is a trade secret of ours.”
Contacted again shortly before publication, Agvaz said that Smart Impex “complies with all export sanctions and manufacturer restrictions” and “has not circumvented Western sanctions against Russia.” He said he could not answer questions about Aju International. Turkish corporate records show that he sold his 50% stake in the Istanbul company to Huma Gulam Ulukan, his co-founder, on 30 November. He could not be reached for comment.
Azu International is an example of how supply channels to Russia have remained open despite Western export embargoes and producer embargoes. Russian customs records show at least $2.6 billion worth of computer and other electronic components flowed into Russia in the seven months to October 31. At least $777 million of these products were made by Western firms whose chips have been found in Russian weapons systems: Intel Corp of the US, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), Texas Instruments Inc and Analog Devices Inc, and Germany’s Infineon AG.
A joint investigation by Reuters and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based defense think tank, details for the first time the global supply chain that feeds Russia with Western computer components and other electronics. An investigation into this trade identified a galaxy of shadowy importers and exporters, such as Azu International, and found that shipments of semiconductors and other technology flowed into Russia from Hong Kong, Turkey and other trading hubs.
One Russian importer, OOO Fortap, based in St. Petersburg, was founded in April by a Russian businessman and has imported at least $138 million worth of electronics, including US computer parts, according to Russian customs records. They show that one of Fortap’s largest suppliers is a Turkish company, Bion Group Ltd Sti, a former textile trader that has recently expanded into wholesale electronics. Bion’s general manager declined to comment.
Another Russian importer, OOO Titan-Micro, registered an address that is a house in a forest on the northern edge of Moscow. According to customs records, it has also imported Western computer components since the invasion.