“Workhorses that operate 24/7.” Belarusian machine tools were sold to companies linked to Russia’s defense industry

Over $4 million in products sold to a single distributor

The BIC identified the Russian VENDE GRUPP as one of the largest buyers. From September 2022 to March 2025, Rontek Machine Tools supplied it with $4.23 million worth of products.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the VENDE GRUPP in February 2024. The U.S. agency’s justification states that the company supplies Russian enterprises with cutting tools and computer numerical control (CNC) metalworking equipment. VENDE GRUPP itself reported that it fulfills government orders and meets the needs of defense enterprises. The company’s employees also took part in the Army Military-Technical Forum, where they showcased the Rontek machine tool.

A journalist from BIC contacted VENDE GRUPP, identifying himself as a Rontek Machine Tools employee. The company confirmed that it resold machine tools from the Belarusian manufacturer between 2022 and 2024. The VENDE GRUPP employee stated that the distributor’s clients included companies in the machinery manufacturing and shipbuilding industries. He refused to name specific organizations.

“We don’t really know what they’re [machine tools – ed. note] ultimately used for. They don’t show us the details,” the VENDE GRUPP employee said.

СF Ural received a total of $2.7 million worth of products from Rontek Machine Tools between September 2023 and June 2025. The company listed Russian defense industry enterprises as partners on its website. Specifically, Motovilikhinskie Zavody, a manufacturer of artillery systems, mortars, and multiple-launch rocket systems; and United Engine Corporation, a producer of engines for military aircraft, as well as rocket and space technology. The BIC did not determine if СF Ural supplied the equipment it received from Rontek Machine Tools to these specific companies.

From September 2022 through March 2023, Rost NN, a company based in Nizhny Novgorod, received products worth $852,000. According to a Russian registry, one of the company’s business activities is the manufacture of ammunition. [*] [*]

Metallmash received $245,600 worth of products from Rontek Machine Tools in January–February 2023. The company was sanctioned by the U.S. in December of that same year. In September 2022, Peterburgski Traktorny Zavod received equipment worth approximately $200,000. The plant is subject to Ukrainian sanctions and is included on a non-public list of organizations within the Russian defense-industrial complex published by the Russian Dossier Center in 2025. EZTM  received products worth $79,000. This organization is also included on the list of Russian defense industry enterprises.

However, the fact that customers have ties to the Russian defense industry complex does not mean that the equipment supplied to them was used for the direct production of weapons.

Twelve machine tools at a Russian defense industry complex enterprise

The BIC also found an instance of Rontek Machine Tools equipment being used at a company that collaborates with Russian defense industry enterprises. The company in question is Resurs, a St. Petersburg-based manufacturer of equipment and components for the Russian industry. In response to a request from the BIC, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate reported that the company works with defense organizations, including Obukhovsky Plant, the Tactical Missiles Corporation, and Dubna Machine-Building Plant by N.P. Fedorov. The Main Intelligence Directorate also confirmed that a Rontek VMC 60C machine tool is installed at Resurs. [*]

A BIC journalist, posing as a Rontek Machine Tools employee, contacted Mikhail Amosovsky, the CEO of Resurs. The executive explained that the company has twelve Rontek VMC 60C machine tools installed. According to Amosovsky, they were supplied by VENDE GRUPP. The machine tools are used to mill and machine housing parts.

“We’re happy with the [machines’] quality; they’re running well. There were some minor issues, but the salespeople resolved them quickly. For us, these machines are workhorses that operate 24/7,” said Amosovsky.

He also noted that almost all of the company’s clients are affiliated with the Russian defense industry.

“It’s not even most of them — it’s 98%. They’re involved in various fields: instrument manufacturing, small-scale machinery production, and other related areas, but mostly the defense industry. And, accordingly, our company is included in the unified registry of defense-industry enterprises,” the director of Resurs said.

Because the registry of Russian defense industry enterprises is classified, the BIC could not confirm Amosovsky’s statement that Resurs is included in it.

What such machines can do

Rontek Machine Tools manufactures metalworking equipment, including vertical, horizontal, bridge-type, and 5-axis machining centers. They enable high-precision milling, drilling, and machining of metal workpieces and can be used in civilian industries as well as in the production of military equipment.

On its website, Rontek Machine Tools states that its HMC (horizontal machining centers) series is ideal for machining housing parts, engine components, and gearboxes. The VM 5-axis machining centers are designed, among other things, for the manufacture of complex parts — such as turbine blades. The GMC bridge-type machining centers can be used in shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and the rocket and space industry.

Olena Yurchenko, the Director of Analytics, Research, and Investigations at the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, says that Rontek Machine Tools’ CNC machines are dual-use equipment. In other words, the same machine tool can be used for both civilian and military production.

“Horizontal machining centers are essential equipment for the mass production of housing parts. They are used to manufacture engine blocks and cylinder heads for armored vehicles and marine installations, transmission and final-drive housings, and housings for hydraulic valves and actuators. <…> Vertical machining centers make up the largest segment. They are used to produce brackets, fittings, small housings, components of fuzes and safety-and-arming mechanisms, as well as manufacturing fixtures,” Yurchenko said, giving examples of their use in military production.

According to her, 5-axis and bridge-type machining centers are also used in the production of small engines for cruise missiles and UAVs, structural frames, launch-vehicle tank end domes, and launcher frames.

Chinese technology at Great Stone

Rontek Machine Tools was registered in Belarus in October 2017. The company’s production facility is located in the Great Stone Industrial Park, a China-Belarus industrial park near Minsk.

In October 2023, Rontek Machine Tools and the Chinese company Shandong DEED Precision Machine Tool signed a memorandum of understanding to build a production facility for high-precision machine tools. Construction of the factory also began at that time.

The signing ceremony was attended by former Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Uladimir Siamashka, then-head of the Great Stone Industrial Park Aliaksandr Yarashenka, and the mayor of the Chinese city of Jining. Following the signing, Chen Yong, the chairman of Shandong DEED Precision Machine Tool, acknowledged the Belarusian government’s support.

Even during the construction phase, Great Stone’s management identified Russia as the company’s primary market. In 2024, Alesya Abramenka, Belarus’s deputy minister of economy, visited the production facility.

Valery Shchurok, a Belarusian national, is the owner and director of Rontek Machine Tools. [*] [*] The company is part of the BAZ group, along with BAZDorMASH and BAZtube. These companies have already been scrutinized by journalists for their ties to the Russian military-industrial complex. The BIC investigation into the supply of parts to Russian defense enterprises mentioned BAZDorMASH. In 2024, the U.S. imposed sanctions on BAZtube. The reason was its cooperation with the Russian military-industrial complex.

Machine tools to replace Western equipment

Supplies from Rontek Machine Tools come amid the Belarusian machine-tool industry’s shift toward the Russian market following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, exports by machine tool manufacturers under the Belarusian Ministry of Industry have roughly doubled compared with 2021 levels. Meanwhile, Belarusian and Russian factories have started manufacturing so-called “union-made” machine tools to replace Western equipment.

A journalist who identified himself as a Belarusian Investigative Center employee contacted Valery Shchurok, the director of Rontek Machine Tools, and asked him about shipments to companies linked to the Russian defense-industry complex that the BIC uncovered. He said the company sells its machine tools through dealers and does not know their ultimate end users.

“We didn’t ship any machine tools to Russia. We supplied them to dealers. To be honest, I don’t know where the machines are ultimately sold. We don’t sign any contracts here. All our sales to Russia go through dealers. <…> They select the tools and determine the production process. Does it make sense? We don’t get involved in that — that’s their business. We manufacture the machine tools,” Shchurok said.

According to him, the company does not request information from dealers about whether their customers are connected to the Russian defense industry. Meanwhile, the director of Rontek Machine Tools stated that the company is no longer working with VENDE GRUPP or СF Ural.

The BIC sent a request to Shandong DEED Precision Machine Tool, asking for a comment on shipments of Rontek Machine Tools equipment to companies associated with the Russian military-industrial complex. Similar requests were sent to other companies mentioned in the article. As of the time of publication, no responses had been received from them.