Kuka robots kept reaching Russia through China after the German company withdrew

Kuka officially ended its Russian business in 2023, yet CORRECTIV found records indicating that dozens of its robots and parts worth more than €1mn subsequently entered Russia through China. Russian customs data show the former Kuka Moscow operation—sold to its previous manager and renamed Industrial Robotics—imported at least 25 welding robots and accessories in 2024 from Qingdao Prosperous Machinery. Model numbers identify them as Kuka equipment.

The machines are dual-use. Russian state television showed a Kuka arm making a composite wing at OAK, part of state defence conglomerate Rostec, which produces both civilian aircraft and Su-30SM fighters. CORRECTIV cannot establish where the newer imports were ultimately used.

The documentary trail is contradictory. Russian conformity declarations dated as recently as May 2026 name Kuka Germany as manufacturer, list Augsburg among production or testing sites and claim current contractual authority to act for Kuka. Kuka says it does not recognize those documents, that the Russian company has no authority to represent it and that certificates supplied by its Chinese business named only Chinese end users. It acknowledges that distributors can circumvent controls and says it blocks them when discovered.

This distinction matters legally: direct German involvement could breach EU sanctions; diversion by an independent intermediary presents a different liability question. Either way, the case illustrates the enforcement gap. Flexible industrial robots can cross through related Chinese companies with paperwork that is difficult for overloaded export-control authorities to verify, while Russia’s defence industry continues to depend on Western manufacturing technology.