Chinese drone exports reach Russia via Thailand re-exports

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A replica of a CH-9 drone, developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation japantimes.co.jp

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El comercio de drones entre infobae.com

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A new logistics corridor is moving Chinese-made drones into Russia through Thailand, illustrating how sanctions regimes and export controls can be routed around with paperwork, intermediaries, and a willingness to not ask end-use questions.

According to the Japan Times, citing trade documents, a Bangkok-registered firm called Skyhub Technologies has become one of Thailand’s largest importers of unmanned aerial vehicles from China. The company’s listed presence is strikingly minimal: a serviced-office address in the Chartered Square building, a single director, scarce on-site activity, and no obvious public contact details. Yet customs and trade records show it as a major node in a fast-growing flow of Chinese drones into Thailand.

Where those drones go next is conveniently opaque. The Japan Times reports that Thailand’s records do not consistently capture the final destination after import, but the broader trade pattern is hard to miss: Thailand’s exports of drones to Russia have surged since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while Thailand’s imports of drones from China rose in parallel.

Infobae, also drawing on Bloomberg reporting, puts numbers on the trend. Between January and November 2025, Russia imported $125 million in drones from Thailand—about 88% of Thailand’s drone exports and roughly eight times the prior year. Over the same period, China shipped $186 million in drones to Thailand, accounting for nearly all Chinese drone exports to that market. In 2022, Thailand’s drone exports were under $1 million and did not include Russia.

Thailand’s customs chief, Phantong Loykulnanta, told Bloomberg (via Infobae) that the exports comply with existing Thai law and that importers are not required to declare end-use when bringing drones in from China. He added that authorities could act only after new legislation is put in place, while the Commerce Ministry investigates.

For Russia, the value is straightforward: drones—especially FPV systems and other commercially available platforms—have become central to battlefield reconnaissance and strike tactics. For China, the official line remains denial of military support, even as Chinese components and systems continue to appear in Ukraine.

For the West, the episode shows that sanctions are not a physics law; they are a bureaucratic process that can be arbitraged. When compliance is measured by forms filed rather than outcomes prevented, a lightly staffed company in a rented office can become a strategic supplier by simply standing between two customs systems.

The European Union has already sanctioned some Thai entities for aiding Russia, Infobae notes, suggesting the corridor is now on regulators’ radar. But each new restriction tends to generate its own cottage industry of rerouting—an expensive cat-and-mouse game where the cat must publish the rules in advance.