03:53 AM, 12 May 2025
by Alexey Basmanov, exclusively for Novaya Gazeta Europe

IMPORTANT: this is not a domestic USA news source, this is not CNN or Fox News (Rupert Murdoch media empire). Novaya Gazeta (Russian: Новая газета) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, the Chechen wars, corruption among the ruling elite, and increasing authoritarianism in Russia. It was formerly published in Moscow until shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began

Aerospace giants Boeing and Rolls-Royce have hired lobbyists to try to prevent the US Congress from introducing further sanctions against Russia, Novaya Gazeta Europe has discovered after analysing the information published on the US House of Representatives’ lobbying disclosure website.

In the first quarter of 2025, Boeing spent $2.6 million (€2.3 million) on lobbying services, while Rolls-Royce, a major manufacturer of aircraft engines, spent $250,000 (€225,000), though the exact portion of this sum going towards Russia-related lobbying is not known.

Both companies’ manufacturing processes greatly depend on the supply of titanium from Russia. Prior to February 2022, Boeing received about a third of the titanium it requires to manufacture aircraft from Russia, while Rolls-Royce received around 20%.

After the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Boeing refused to buy titanium from Russian producer VSMPO-AVISMA, but, according to a 2024 investigation by The Washington Post, began to obtain it through intermediary suppliers. Rolls-Royce claimed to have stopped purchasing Russian titanium, but, in fact, has continued to do so, the Washington Post reported.

Though it is still currently possible to import titanium and other metals from Russia, the Biden administration reportedly proposed a joint sanctions package to G7 countries in October that would target these exports. Previously, in September 2023, the US Department of Commerce included VSMPO-AVISMA on a list of organisations subject to export restrictions, meaning American companies had to obtain special licences to continue trading with it.

In addition, several nuclear energy companies, including the Uranium Energy Corporation and Terrapower, have hired lobbyists in Congress, demanding a relaxation of the November ban on US imports of Russian uranium. Before the restrictions were imposed, Russia was the main foreign supplier of uranium for American nuclear power plants, providing about 20% of the enriched uranium used nationally.

VSMPO-AVISMA, a Urals-based metallurgical company, is the world’s largest titanium producer, accounting for some 30% of global production. It supplies global aerospace giants, including Airbus, Brazil’s Embraer, and France’s Safran, as well as Boeing and Rolls-Royce.

In February, amid rumours of Boeing’s possible return to Russia, VSMPO-AVISMA shares rose by 30%, Kommersant reported. Rostec, a Russian state-owned defence conglomerate, owns 25% of the company.

Meanwhile, VSMPO-AVISMA’s controlling shareholder is Mikhail Shelkov, a pro-Kremlin oligarch who has not been sanctioned by the US or the EU despite being included on the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s List of War Enablers, an initiative aimed to gather the names of people who should be subject to sanctions for supporting and aiding the Russian war effort.

Editor in chief — Kirill Martynov

 

ALSO NOTE

The source article had this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/21/russia-titanium-exports-sanctions/ ?utm_source=chatgpt.com

implying that ChatGPT was used to author some or parts of this article or research.

NATO / USA lost the Hybrid War that was launched in March 2013 against the World Wide Web.

1. Kremlin brags that only 1% of the manipulation Hybrid War content has been discovered and removed. NATO has entirely been unable to defend, 99% flies under the defense radar of Five Eyes (FVEY).
2. Russian military was able to completely get past USA FBI, CIA, NSA, and whatever else the Pentagon has. Competely unable to defend the population against Russian Hybrid Warfare. "For years, AIVD had access to the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear. That's what de Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur have uncovered in their investigation." "the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD penetrated the computer network of a university adjacent to Red Square back in 2014, only to later realize they had tapped into APT29, aka Cozy Bear, one of the Russian government-affiliated organizations that penetrated the DNC and targeted other US government departments". "It was Dutch intelligence operatives that hacked into some of Russia's own institutions -- including their closed-circuit television cameras."
3. Putin and Surkov's "Operation Matthew 4:19" global manipulation of everyday people included turning social media consumers into Russian assets of the Hybrid Warfare who deliberately spread measles and COVID-19 virus during the pandemic. Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University validated evidence going back to year 2014.
4. Absolutely no defense has been found against this Hybrid Warfare since it was unleashed in March 2013. "At the NATO summit in Wales last week, General Philip Breedlove, the military alliance’s top commander, made a bold declaration. Russia, he said, is waging “the most amazing information warfare blitzkrieg we have ever seen in the history of information warfare.” It was something of an underestimation. The new Russia doesn’t just deal in the petty disinformation, forgeries, lies, leaks, and cyber-sabotage usually associated with information warfare. It reinvents reality, creating mass hallucinations"