China has denied supplying materials to support Russia's war effort, but a new investigative report has raised questions about a Chinese state-owned company's role in supplying a key component used in the production of Russian attack drones. According to documents reviewed jointly by Politico and The Telegraph, China's state-owned Jilin Chemical Fiber Group shipped 46 tonnes of a chemical precursor to a Russian company involved in manufacturing carbon fibre for military drones, despite Beijing's repeated public assertions that it does not arm Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The material at the center of the report is polyacrylonitrile, or PAN, precursor, a compound used to produce high-strength carbon fibre. Shipping records show the two containers were sent earlier this year to Alabuga-Volokno, a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned nuclear conglomerate Rosatom, operating out of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan. Alabuga-Volokno has been under Western sanctions since 2023 for its role in producing components for Russia's Geran kamikaze drones, which are based on Iran's Shahed design and have been used extensively in strikes across Ukraine, including one that reportedly hit a shopping mall.

Notably, the shipping documents classified the material under a customs code typically reserved for civilian synthetic fibres such as nylon and polyester, rather than one reflecting its potential military application. David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said the proper customs designation would have identified the shipment as a dual-use product with both civilian and military uses. He estimated that the quantity of PAN sent by Jilin could yield enough carbon fibre to produce as many as 1,300 kamikaze drones. A former U.S. Treasury official who worked on sanctions targeting Russian weapons procurement told Politico that the use of a civilian customs code suggested an effort to obscure a more sensitive shipment.

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The documents were obtained by the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center (USCC), a Kyiv-based research organization, which said it has tracked at least eight separate tenders for PAN precursor shipments between Jilin Chemical Fiber Group and Alabuga-Volokno dating back to 2022, indicating a commercial relationship that predates the most intensive period of Western sanctions on Russia's defense industry. The USCC also estimated that as much as 89 percent of Alabuga-Volokno's output could be directed toward Russian defense manufacturers by 2030. The center shared its findings with both the U.S. and U.K. governments; the U.S. House Select Committee on China reviewed the records and determined them to be authentic, a conclusion a Ukrainian government official said Kyiv had independently confirmed.

Jilin Chemical Fiber Group is not currently subject to Western sanctions, unlike Alabuga-Volokno and its parent company, which face restrictions from the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Ukraine, New Zealand and Switzerland. In response to the report, China's embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations, characterizing them as an attempt to smear and scapegoat China. Jilin did not respond to requests for comment, while a Rosatom spokesperson said the company operates in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The findings emerge weeks ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, scheduled for later this month. Analysts suggest the timing could add pressure on U.S. officials to raise concerns over Chinese dual-use exports to Russia during the summit, at a moment when Washington and its allies continue to scrutinize Beijing's economic ties to Moscow amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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