From the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine until March 2025, Vitebskiy zavod radiodetaley "Monolit" (VZRD Mоnоlit) shipped goods worth more than $40 million to the Russian company Spets-Elektronkomplekt. Thanks to a source in the logistics industry, the BIC obtained documents confirming this as part of a joint investigation with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Belarus and the Ukrainian investigative project Slidstvo.Info.
According to an investigation by Important Stories, AO Spets-Elektronkomplekt, or AO Spets-EK (a joint-stock company under the laws of the Russian Federation), is a supplier of microelectronic components for major enterprises in the Russian military-industrial complex. The company’s clients include, for example, AO NII Vektor, which develops drone countermeasure systems and radio reconnaissance complexes.
Ceramic capacitors, a key element of microchips, account for more than 96% of Spets-EK’s purchases from АО VZRD Mоnоlit. Capacitors stabilise the flow of electricity through the chips by storing it in the event of minor interruptions to the current. In 2023, BelTA, the state information agency, claimed that VZRD Mоnоlit’s products accounted for half of the capacitor market in the CIS.
In 2018, Akif Hasymau, director of the Belarus-based company VZRD Mоnоlit, said that its primary consumers are enterprises of the military-industrial complex, primarily the Russian one.
A specialist of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine told Slidstvo.Info that VZRD Mоnоlit is the only major manufacturer of K10-84 capacitors in Belarus and Russia known to the agency. According to him, these capacitor models were found in S-200 and S-300 missiles. On its website, VZRD Mоnоlit indeed calls itself the manufacturer and developer of this model, specifying these capacitors as being among its most modern and promising products.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Belarus, another electronics specialist serving in the AFU who wished to remain anonymous said that capacitors from the VZRD Mоnоlit are found in fragments of the Iskander, Kh-101 and Kalibr missiles fired by the Russian Armed Forces at Ukraine.
The equipment of VZRD Mоnоlit caught on camera in several reports included machine tools produced by the Slovenian company KEKO Equipment Ltd, heat treatment furnaces from the German company Nabertherm GmbH, and Japanese Pro-face by Schneider Electric (part of the French corporation Schneider Electric SE).
The plant is included on Ukraine's sanctions lists (since May 2023), but it is not subject to EU sanctions. There is no confirmed information regarding equipment deliveries since the sanctions were imposed. However, at the same time, production and shipment of capacitors spiked. There was a 39% increase in 2023 compared to 2022, and an 85% increase in the first two years of the war.
The controlling stake in VZRD Mоnоlit belongs to the Russian company OOO Kulon (a limited liability company under the laws of the Russian Federation), which also supplies the Russian military-industrial complex. Kulon is also a supplier to the Russian military-industrial complex.
