America just sanctioned a Canadian for helping Russia

On May 19th, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned a company in Canada for allegedly supplying Russia with vital equipment it needed to fight the conflict in Ukraine. 

Asia Pacific Links Ltd was alleged to have been one of the Russian Armed Forces’ main suppliers of electrical parts needed to build its Orlan-10 drones according to Global News.

The U.S. State Department wrote in a statement that Asia Pacific Links Ltd exported components as part of a procurement network for the Orlan-10 that was in the millions. 

Company owner and Russian national Anton Sergeyevich Trofimov was also sanctioned along with the firms he owns in Hong Kong based on the infomation reported by Global News.

The 41-year-old businessman owns properties worth in excess of $2.7 million dollars in Toronto and Global News noted that Anton Trofimov could not be reached for comment. 

The Orlan-10 is a sophisticated reconnaissance drone and Business Insider pointed out that it was Russia’s most effective means of “gathering intelligence and finding targets.”

Jack Watling is Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and at an October conference in Washington he explained why the drones were so dangerous. 

“The hardest UAS to defeat on the battlefield is the Orlans," Watling said according to Business Insider and referencing the acronym for unmanned aircraft systems. 

Watling explained that the Orlan-10 was a particularly sophisticated system but it could fly above the range of most man-portable air defense systems like Stinger missiles. 

Because the Orlan can fly so high it can avoid being hit by cheaper air defense systems and he noted it didn’t make economic sense to go after them with “proper air-defense.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced another round of sanctions in support of Ukraine at Japan’s G7 summit but Trofimov was not included in those sanctions at that time according to Global News.

Global News also reported that Asia Pacific Links Ltd was still listed as an active company on Corporation Canada’s website, which is a government tool used to track the status of all of the country’s incorporated businesses. 

Trofimov and his companies had been on the radar of the Canadian Ukrainian Congress (UCC) since at least January 2023 when Global News said the group sent a letter to the foreign affairs minister asking them to take action against the Russian national.

“As you can no doubt understand, the evidence that a resident of Canada is involved in the supply of technology that is being used by Russia to murder Ukrainians is of grievous concern,” National President Alexandra Chyczij wrote as per Global News. 

Photo by Twitter @AnitaAnandMP

In December, Reuters reported on Asia Pacific Links Ltd‘s alleged activities and ran through Trofimov fit into the Orlan-10’s entire global production line and noted that customs data revealed he sent “millions of dollars in parts, though never directly.”

Many of the parts sent to Russia were American-made microchips according to Reuters, which the news outlet said made Asia Pacific Links Ltd one of the Russian drone programs’ “most important suppliers.”