Gilat is a leading global provider of satellite technology. And even after February 24, 2022, it did not close the export of systems to Russia. It also uses them for war purposes. The paradox is that the production of the technology takes place in Ukraine.
This was discovered by investigative journalists Alexej Nabožňak and Nasťa Gorpinchenko, who published their conclusions in an extensive text on the website Slidstvo.info. “Gilat SkyEdge satellite Internet communication systems, which are manufactured by the Uzhhorod plant of the American outsourcing company Jabil Circuit for the Israeli corporation Gilat Satellite Networks, are imported to Russia in large quantities. And they can help the Russian army, which is trying to occupy Ukraine, fulfill its tasks,” they wrote.
Journalists got access to the documents of the customs administration and read from them that in 2023 alone, approximately 22 thousand of these systems worth approximately five million US dollars (converted to almost 116 million crowns) were imported into Russia.
“This is six times more than in 2022, when equipment of Ukrainian origin Gilat worth $840,000 reached Russia,” Nabozhnak and Gorpinchenko report.
According to the customs declarations they refer to, the systems were shipped from Israel and Turkey, but the country of origin of the goods is listed as Ukraine.
The report on Slidstvo.info further states that since 2000, the Gilat company has been helping Russians build satellite communication networks for the needs of both the private and public sectors. It is a partner of major satellite communication operators, including Rostelecom’s subsidiary RTKomm and Gazprom’s subsidiary – Gazprom Space Systems. One of the company’s activities is the development of military communication technologies.
And during a full-scale Russian invasion, the Russian media regularly reports on the transfer of this company’s systems to the front. “In Russian advertisements, they often state that these are systems ‘suitable for the needs of the SVO’ (special military operations, as the Kremlin calls an offensive war, note ed.). And it is one of the reasons why Gilat ‘antennas’ can also be seen in reports about the Russian occupiers,” the report reads.
“Unlike the Starlink systems, which, thanks to the large number of satellites, work anywhere in the world, the Russian Jamal and Express satellite constellations work on the principle of satellite television. This means that the satellite ‘hangs’ at one point and the antenna must be directed at it in a certain area at a certain angle,” explained the technology, military communications expert and consultant in the field of radio and military technologies Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov.
From this point of view, according to him, the Gilat systems are perfect for working with Russian satellites. “If they have their own satellites, it makes no sense to pay for the use of foreign ones. Unlike Starlink, traffic on Russian networks is difficult to monitor from the outside. So, from this point of view, it is simply safer for the Russians to use their own systems, because all traffic goes through Russian servers,” he added.
The experts contacted agreed that it is almost impossible to stop this cooperation. It is difficult to sanction companies that supply services or technologies for satellite communication.
“The American government allows companies from this field to work in Russia, because it is a civil approach to satellite communication, the purpose of which is to protect freedom of speech and information. In order to impose sanctions on a company like Gilat, we need very clear evidence not only of the use of their products by the military, but of their use directly in the war against Ukraine on the battlefield,” the server quoted Roman Steblivsky, head of the sanctions department of the Trap Aggressor project.
Tags: Russia communication systems manufactured Ukraine Ukrainians
