Kazakhstani Registered Company Linked to Supply Chain for Russian Missile Components via Belarus

A Kazakhstani firm, United Trading Group, was involved in a scheme supplying components for Russian missile production in Belarus, Orda reports.

Russia uses these missiles in its war against Ukraine.

The Kazakhstani connection in acid supplies was uncovered by journalists from the "Belarusian Investigative Center" (BIC) in collaboration with the international OCCRP center.

The investigation revealed that electronic microchips for Russian missiles are manufactured by the Belarusian plant "Integral."

The facility uses Western equipment and actively cooperates with Russian defense industry companies.

Ukrainian experts confirmed this information.

The hydrochloric acid necessary for chip production is supplied to Belarus through Kazakhstan.

Hydrochloric acid is a key component needed by "Integral" for microchip production. It's used to process semiconductor wafers. Before the Russian-Ukrainian war, UrSeCo Handels GmbH & Co. KG supplied ultra-pure hydrochloric acid to Belarus from Germany.

The acid's recipient in Kazakhstan was "United Trading Group" LLP — a company with one employee and a single founder, Alimzhan Bekov.

The LLP was registered in Almaty on March 17, 2022.

This firm received ultra-pure hydrochloric acid from Germany and sold it to Russian counterparts, including "Elektrosnab."

In turn, "Elektrosnab" sent it to Belarusian "Integral." The Kazakhstani registered company used the same scheme to supply acid to Russian LLC "Siltron" (which was eventually sold to "Integral" itself).

United Trading Group is officially listed as the acid producer in the deliveries from Kazakhstan’s company to Siltron. But this is hardly the truth. Firstly, according to the official register of business entities in Kazakhstan, the company has only one employee (in the register, it is classified as “micro-entrepreneurship”). Secondly, this micro-enterprise’s activities do not include production, but only wholesale trade. We also found no information that hydrochloric acid with a purity of 99.999% is produced in Kazakhstan, the BIC investigation states.

The maximum purity of hydrochloric acid produced in Kazakhstan only reaches 35%.

Journalists discovered that the trademark under which the substance was sent to Russia belongs to the German concern Wacker Chemie.

UrSeCo Handels, which supplies acid from Germany, is directly connected to Russian LLC "Siltron."

According to the investigation, "Siltron's" primary owner and the German firm's managing director are father and son. The German company also has connections with Kazakhstani United Trading Group.

The LLP's sole owner and director, Alimzhan Bekov, represented UrSeCo Handels at the "Greentech Kasachstan und Usbekistan" conference in 2024, organized with the participation of the "German Economy Representative Office in Central Asia."

A representative of one of the firms helping "Integral" obtain raw materials for microchip production told Belarusian journalists that the enterprise has now established a supply channel "through Kyrgyzstan."

Russia and Belarus are constantly seeking ways in which to procure key products for Russia's war in Ukraine in violation of sanctions. This inevitably means that countries that border Russia - particularly those that are members of the Eurasian Economic Area - will be involved in this evasion activity, British expert Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, told BIC.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny