RANE's Weekly Situation Report: Russia's use of Chinese-made Tiger Armored Vehicles

On June 8, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video showing that his Akhmat unit, formally under Russia's National Guard, is now using Chinese-made Tiger armored vehicles, in the first such publicly known instance of a Russian government unit using such vehicles.

It is unclear exactly how local Chechen authorities procured the vehicles, whether directly from China or Russia's partners in Central Asia. The vehicles have a number of non-combat uses, allowing China to claim they are not combat vehicles and to maintain plausible deniability. Still, the arrangement demonstrates that China is willing to approach a perceived U.S. red line in which China should not provide lethal material to Russia's war effort. China is being careful not to cross such red lines, and providing so-called ‘dual use’ equipment that could be used for both peacetime and wartime purposes is one such way. The delivery also comes on the backdrop of severe Russian material shortages on the frontlines in Ukraine after over a year of heavy fighting, while Ukraine’s own counteroffensive against the Russian invasion is only adding the urgency for Moscow to find fighting vehicles for its military.

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