The United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese companies that helped Russia hire Wagoner

The United States announced sanctions against a Chinese company on Jan. 26. The company is suspected of providing satellite images of Ukraine to Russia and supporting the operations of the Russian mercenary “Wagner Group”.

The Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute, also known as Spacety China, is one of the 16 entities sanctioned by the US Treasury Department and has offices in Beijing and Luxembourg.

The Wagner Group supplied tens of thousands of mercenary fighters to Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Spacety China has provided synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery of locations in Ukraine to Terra Tech, a Russia-based technology company, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said ina statement.

“The images were collected in order to enable Mr. Wagner to conduct combat operations in Ukraine,” the statement said. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against the Chinese company’s Luxembourg-based subsidiary.
The sanctions include a ban on transferring, paying or exporting any assets or interests in the United States to targeted entities.

Spacety China has yet to respond to the US move.
China, a close ally of Russia, has tried to position itself as a neutral party in the war in Ukraine. China has been criticised by the US and its Allies for refusing to condemn Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
On its website, Spacety China says it is “focused on SAR constellation construction and SAR satellite data services” and is a “pioneer and leader” in commercializing SAR remote sensing satellites and scientific research satellites.

Founded in 2016, TiantI has carried out 14 space missions, launched 25 satellites and had more than 200 commercial users, with the goal of becoming a “world-class small satellite development and data service provider” by 2030, according to the website.
SAR is a radar technology that uses shorter antennas to provide higher-resolution images.

According to Spacety China’s website, the company’s CEO, Yang Feng, is an expert in the expert pool of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and a member of the Changsha municipal People’s Congress.

The website also lists some of the company’s partners, including state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and China Electronics Technology Corp.
Last March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, American officials said that at least 1,000 Wagner mercenaries were deployed in eastern Ukraine: “We know they’re there,” John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said at a briefing last March. “We know they want to expand their presence in Ukraine.”

A January 2023 intelligence update from Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it was “almost certain” that Wagner was now commanding some 50,000 fighters in Ukraine.
The intelligence also says the Wagner group began recruiting fighters on a large scale last year because Russia was having trouble recruiting regular soldiers.

The U.S. National Security Council estimates that about 80 percent of Wagner fighters sent to Ukraine were recruited from prisons.

Mr. Wagner played a key role in Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and was heavily involved in Russia’s attempt to seize control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.