China uses Thailand as hub to funnel drones to Russia

07:00

By: Dakir Madiha

China uses Thailand as hub to funnel drones to Russia

China has quietly developed a new channel for supplying drones to Russia, rerouting exports through Thailand as Moscow seeks to evade Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine. A Bloomberg investigation identifies little-known Thai companies acting as intermediaries in a fast-growing trade that turns Bangkok into a key transit point for Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles headed to Russia.

At the center of this network is Skyhub Technologies, a low-profile firm housed in a serviced office on the 30th floor of Bangkok’s Chartered Square building, where staff report only rare visits from its sole director and occasional appearances by Chinese nationals. Trade records show Skyhub has become Thailand’s second-largest importer of drones from China, despite being officially registered in unrelated sectors and offering no public contact details. The company brought in about 25 million dollars’ worth of drones in 2025, including nearly one thousand units sharing the same model code as Autel Robotics’ EVO Max 4T, a high-end civilian drone that Russian operators have praised as highly effective on the battlefield in Ukraine. Autel, a major Chinese drone manufacturer, says its products are designed for civilian use, are equipped with geofencing to block flights over the front lines and that it maintains a sanctions-compliance system, while declining to discuss specific clients.

Thai trade data highlight how sharply this flow has accelerated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In the first eleven months of 2025, Russia imported around 125 million dollars in drones from Thailand, representing 88 percent of Thai unmanned aerial vehicle exports and an eightfold increase from the previous year. Over the same period China shipped roughly 186 million dollars in drones to Thailand, accounting for almost all of the country’s drone imports and closely mirroring the surge in Thai exports to Russia. Officials say most of these drones are re-exported, yet their final destination is not formally recorded, leaving a blind spot in how dual-use technology moves into Russia’s war economy.

Another Thai company, China Thai Corporation Group, appears to play an even larger role in this trade, importing about 144 million dollars of drones from China in the first eleven months of 2025. The United Kingdom sanctioned the firm in October 2025 for supplying technology to Russia’s military, part of a broader Western effort to target intermediaries that feed Russia’s defense sector. Earlier trade records show China Thai acted as a freight forwarder for electronics bound for Russia, including multi-million-dollar shipments of iPhones and semiconductors linked to companies later blacklisted by the European Union. Financial filings cited by local reports indicate the company’s revenues jumped sharply between 2023 and 2024, and signage now suggests it is rebranding as Lanto Global Logistics, though staff have declined to comment publicly on the sanctions.

Thai authorities maintain that the transactions remain within the existing legal framework. The head of Thailand’s customs department says importers are not currently required to declare the end use of drones arriving from China and that enforcement will only change once new laws are in place. The commerce ministry’s foreign trade department is said to be studying the issue, while the government has not publicly responded to European sanctions on Thai-based firms accused of supporting Russia’s war effort.

For Western governments, the Thai route underscores the difficulty of preventing Russia from acquiring drones and other dual-use components despite extensive sanctions. Analysts estimate that Chinese suppliers now provide around 80 percent of the dual-use parts Russia relies on in Ukraine, with Southeast Asia emerging as one of several alternative corridors after earlier networks through places such as the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan were exposed and constrained. Experts say the pattern has become familiar: Chinese-made systems and components move through shell companies and third-country hubs before reaching Russian buyers, even as Beijing insists it does not furnish Moscow with direct military aid.

Thailand’s growing links with Russia form part of the backdrop to this trade. Russian tourism to Thailand has reached record levels and the two countries have stepped up economic and investment contacts, including plans for new cultural and educational initiatives. While Russia’s war in Ukraine approaches its fifth year, Bangkok has focused on deepening commercial ties and attracting Russian visitors, even as Thai-based intermediaries come under increasing scrutiny from Western governments for their role in supplying technology that can be used in combat.