Moscow desperately needs Beijing’s support.
The StankoMashStroy plant also announced plans to transfer part of its production to China. In 2023, the company announced its intention to, jointly with the Chinese company Baoji Machine Tool Group in the Chinese province of Shaanxi to establish production of five-axis machine tools necessary for high-precision processing of complex parts. Among its customers in 2025 were the Votkinsky Plant, which produces ballistic missiles, and the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant “Kupol”, a manufacturer of air defence systems.
Researchers were unable to confirm the start of production, but found that the owner of StankoMashStroy, Oleg Kochetkov, registered the company Shaanxi Stermasi Technology in the PRC. The Russian company has been under US sanctions since 2023. Among its customers were enterprises of the military-industrial complex.
The Russian government is also considering locating production in China. According to Kommersant, United Microelectronics Company was considering acquiring stakes in small Chinese factories to provide Russian customers with access to chip production.
The report says that joint research helps Chinese and Russian defence enterprises verify already developed designs, reduce testing costs and move faster from design to production. Russia offers scientific and engineering achievements inherited from the USSR. China, on the other hand, has huge production capacity, modern technologies and significant resources for implementing developments in the defence industry.
Senior C4ADS analyst Allen Maggard notes that in the long term, China will benefit more from such cooperation, because the Russian developments and experience gained can help Chinese companies create new types of weapons and oust Russian manufacturers from the markets.
Henry Zimmer of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) notes that due to the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions, Russia cannot do without military and technical support from Beijing. According to his forecast, cooperation between the two countries will continue to expand in 2027, unless the US and Europe increase pressure.
At the same time, China may limit cooperation if its economic interests are threatened or if there is a risk of new Western sanctions, since access to Western markets, capital, and technology is more important to Beijing than relations with Moscow.
