Substance dependence: Russia’s military-industrial complex still relies on imported chemicals, including some from the West

Phenol-formaldehyde and epoxy resins are used in the production of aircraft and components of weapons and ammunition. Phenol-formaldehyde resins are key to the manufacturing of polymer and composite parts with advanced mechanical, insulating, and thermal properties. Such composites are in high demand in aviation. Phenol-formaldehyde resins are a high-tonnage product with a range of civilian uses. In 2019, they were produced by 15 Russian enterprises. However, one of the key ingredients, para-tert-butylphenol (PTBP), is produced only at the Novokuibyshevsk Plant in Samara Region. Without PTBP, it is impossible to produce phenol-formaldehyde resins, which are used as a binding agent in explosives for artillery shells, bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as for heat-resistant fuzes and detonators.

Its synthesis requires a catalyst and an ion-exchange resin (a cation exchanger) — either the Russian-made KU-23, or Amberlyst 36 Dry, which is produced by the American company DuPont. However, research by Samara chemists shows that the DuPont cation exchanger is significantly more efficient than the domestic one.

Aramid fibers form the basis of ballistic fabric for body armor. They are also used in drone manufacturing, ballistic textiles, protective helmets, and in the production of aramid laminate, a composite material for armored vehicles. Producing aramid fibers requires auxiliary components such as para-phenylenediamine and N,N-dimethylacetamide, neither of which is produced in Russia. Only one enterprise in the country can produce aramid fibers using high-speed sulfuric-acid technology, and Russia does not manufacture serial equipment for aramid yarn production.

EU sanctions and export-control regulations impose far more extensive restrictions on the supply of physical equipment than on the delivery of chemical components. Around 1000 lines in the dual-use technology classifier of products that cannot be sent to Russia consist of electronics, optics, laser and acoustic technology, cryogenic equipment, magnetometers, radars, semiconductor lithography equipment, metalworking machinery, and bearings. At the same time, the prohibition list includes only around 200 individual chemical substances and only about a dozen groups of substances. The section covering unconditional export restrictions by HS codes blocks supplies of roughly 70 substances and their groups to Russia.