Belarusian plant supplying capacitors for Russian long-range missiles remains off EU and U.S. sanctions lists
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine through March 2025, the Vitebsk Radio Components Plant “Monolit” supplied the Russian company Spets-Elektronkomplekt with capacitors and other parts for military equipment worth more than $40 million. The plant has been under Ukrainian sanctions since May 2023 but has yet to appear on EU or U.S. sanctions lists, according to a joint investigation by Slidstvo.Info, Radio Svaboda’s Belarus Service and the Belarusian Investigative Center.
Reporters obtained documents confirming the Belarusian plant’s cooperation with Russia’s defense sector from a source in the logistics industry. The recipient in Russia—JSC Spets-Elektronkomplekt, also known as OJSC Spets-EK—is, according to an iStories investigation, a supplier of microelectronic components to major enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. Its clients include the Vector Research Institute (NII “Vector”), which develops counter-drone systems and signals intelligence complexes.
More than 96% of Spets-EK’s purchases from Monolit are ceramic capacitors, a key element of microchips. Back in 2018, company director Akif Gasimov said the plant’s main customers were defense-industry enterprises, primarily in Russia.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) says VZRD “Monolit” is the only large-scale producer of K10-84 capacitors in Belarus and Russia. Those models have been found in debris from S-200 and S-300 missiles. Other capacitor modifications made by the plant were identified in fragments of Iskander, Kh-101 and Kalibr missiles used by Russia to strike Ukraine.
Investigators also note the plant’s equipment includes machines from Slovenian company KEKO Equipment Ltd, heat-treatment furnaces from Germany’s Nabertherm GmbH, and Japanese Pro-face equipment made by Schneider Electric (which is also part of the French corporation Schneider Electric SE).
The plant still does not appear on EU or U.S. sanctions lists. A controlling stake in VZRD “Monolit” belongs to the Russian company LLC “Kulon,” itself a supplier to Russia’s defense industry.
In 2023, the plant increased capacitor output and shipments by 39% compared with the previous year. Overall, Monolit’s revenues rose to nearly $6.2 million in 2024, up from $1.4 million in the pre-war year of 2021.