The EU and the nitrocellulose knot: what is needed for Russian rockets is sold to Moscow, Brussels denies

Brussels – Key substances for the war industry sold in Russia despite bans. Official figures want every door closed to the Russian Federation and its president, Vladimir Putin, and there are suspicions that there are loopholes in favour of the Kremlin’s war machine. The nitrocellulose is a mystery. The EU has decreed a ban on exports because it is necessary to make propellant for a wide range of Russian artillery and rocket launchers, including tactical artillery systems used in Ukraine. Yet, denounces EPP MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, the Russians continue to get supplies. 

MEP asks for enlightenment on data showing exports to have grown—and too much. Purchases of nitrocellulose, he denounces, would have “increased by 70 per cent in 2022 and by mid-2023 amounted to 3,039 tons, almost double the 2021 level.” And the suspects for this turnover are few. “Only a handful of companies, based in the U.S., Turkey, China, and Germany, produce the substance, and, according to reports, EU-based companies are among those producing the nitrocellulose that is then shipped to Russia.” 

So, there is a suspicion that someone is doing business with Moscow by helping it keep its missiles going. In Brussels, however, there is no knowledge of illicit traffic, which is what it would be. “Exports of nitrocellulose [to Russia] are prohibited,” cuts short Valdis Dombrovskis, Trade Commissioner, called to account on behalf of the college of commissioners. The sales halt was decreed in April 2022, just after military operations in Ukraine began. In addition, Dombrovkis continues, “The export data reported by member states indicate that there are no EU exports to Russia for the whole of 2023.” Again, the Commission “is not aware of any European operators exporting the product to Russia.” 

What happened or what might have happened is unclear. The EU executive is sure that the product used to power missiles was not delivered to Putin’s Russia. Still, the incoming question seems to cast shadows and the initiation of appropriate verifications. The Trade Commissioner warns, “If it is found that EU companies have supplied sanctioned goods to Russia, they will be subject to criminal prosecution under Member States’ legislation.“