A recent investigation reveals that several companies, including a U.S. firm, have been implicated in selling U.S.-made pickup trucks to Russia, contrasting starkly with the imposed sanctions intended to restrict such transactions.
The Ram 1500 pickup truck has surfaced in Russian state propaganda videos, modified for use in launching kamikaze drones against Ukrainian cities.
According to the Kyiv Independent, at least 130 of these trucks were imported into Russia since the onset of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, facilitated by various companies operating from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one originating from Virginia.
One notable location for these activities is Russia’s largest and most secret drone factory, located at the Alabuga industrial park near Kazan.
Russian state television channel Zvezda, under the control of the Defense Ministry, aired a video demonstrating the drone facility’s production of Geran-2 drones, a local variant modeled after Iranian Shahed drones utilized for nightly strikes in Ukraine.
In the video, a modified black Ram 1500 truck is shown launching a drone, alongside several other similarly equipped vehicles.
Although using pickup trucks to launch drones is not a common tactic, military intelligence sources in Ukraine expressed concerns about the operational challenges associated with such vehicles for drone deployment.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed by Western nations, including the U.S., targeting Russian financial institutions, businesses, and individuals.
Stellantis, which owns Ram Trucks, announced in spring 2022 that it would halt manufacturing at its Russian plant and cease all vehicle exports to Russia to comply with these sanctions.
However, the appearance of U.S.-made Ram 1500 pickups in Russia raises critical questions regarding how these trucks circumvented the restrictions.
Investigative findings reveal that companies linked to the UAE have re-exported these vehicles, allowing Russian car trading firms to acquire them and, potentially, to sell them to military entities.
This process is known as transshipment, a classic method of sanctions evasion, as noted by Alex Bashinsky, co-founder of the Global Sanctions Training Institute.
Of particular concern is the case of Virgina-based Arivir Corp, which reportedly sold at least eight Ram 1500 TRX trucks to a Russian company named Arivir Rus.
Records indicate these vehicles were shipped between 2023 and early 2024, with Arivir Corp acquiring the trucks from dealerships before directing them to Arivir Rus.
Arivir Rus is owned by Kirill Glazunov, a Russian national, with the staff at Arivir Corp possessing Russian names and potentially fluency in the language, hinting at a possible connection to Russia.
Experts have indicated that legally exporting U.S.-made vehicles to Russia requires a special license, which is generally denied due to existing restrictions following the invasion of Ukraine.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s commissioner for sanctions policy, emphasized that without proper licensing, such exports would violate U.S. regulations.
Inquiries were made to Arivir Corp regarding the existence of such a license but were met with silence.
The investigation further determined that the number of vehicles making their way to Russia likely exceeds the reported figure of 130, as the focus was solely on Ram 1500 pickups, with other Western brands potentially supplementing this total.
Bashinsky reiterated that transshipment activities circumventing proper U.S. export authorization are violations of trade controls, regardless of the intermediary’s location.
Vlasiuk echoed these concerns, indicating that businesses engaged in such practices risk facing secondary sanctions, advocating for enhanced compliance measures among U.S. manufacturers.
Despite the looming threat of sanctions, several companies were found to be engaged in transshipping U.S. vehicles, with some even promoting their services on social media.
A notable instance includes an Instagram post from Mehrzad Cargo & Shipping L.L.C., a Dubai-registered firm, stating their involvement in shipping American vehicles to Russia in August 2024.
This firm is also linked to a shipment of a Ram 1500 pickup truck to Interco LLC in 2024, which, despite not being shown in the Russian drone factory footage, nevertheless resulted in circumvention of U.S. restrictions.
Mehrzad Cargo & Shipping L.L.C. did not respond to inquiries from the Kyiv Independent.
Additionally, Automax Motors FZE, another Dubai-based dealership, facilitated the shipment of approximately three dozen Ram 1500 trucks to RRT LLC, a private car trading firm in St. Petersburg.
The ultimate buyers of these vehicles remain unidentified, raising questions about how many more are being rerouted.
Automax Group, the parent company, was contacted regarding any awareness about these trucks ending up in Russia, yet failed to reply.
Fine Cars EAEU – FZE, also based in Dubai, was documented to have exported at least 14 Ram 1500 pickups to Voyadger LLC, a Moscow-based car rental firm, along with 10 others to Stroygeologia LLC, a Russian construction company.
Though established in October 2022, Fine Cars EAEU has limited online presence and does not actively market its services.
Investigative reports detail that Russian firms receiving these vehicles often serve as intermediaries for reselling them to end users, whose identities can be elusive.
While the exact trucks depicted in the propaganda video from the drone factory remain unknown, all vehicles uncovered in this investigation should not have been imported into Russia without the required U.S. license under the imposed restrictions.
The Kyiv Independent has reached out to Stellantis for comment regarding specific vehicle identification numbers linked to the Ram 1500s that bypassed U.S. sanctions but received no response by the time of this publication.
image source from：kyivindependent
