In October 1949 the Soviet Union severed relations with Taiwan , in response Taiwan banned trade and investment in the USSR. The absence of diplomatic relations hampered trade and economic cooperation between the countries, which was mainly carried out on a non-governmental basis.
The relationship between these two Countries has never been the same again.
A Russian presidential decree on relations between the two countries was signed by Boris Yeltsin in 1992, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even then, it quickly became clear that Moscow had no intention of sacrificing stability in its relations with mainland China for the benefits of friendship with Taiwan.
Russia does not recognise Taiwan's independence, considering it an integral part of China.
In 2014, after Russia's occupation of the Crimean peninsula and started a hybrid war against Ukraine, relations between Russia and Taiwan experienced a noticeable downturn.
Although bilateral ties were never a priority for Moscow or Taipei, senior delegations from both sides had exchanged visits, and visa requirements for tourists were abolished.
Today, Russia’s unprecedented dependence on China prevents Moscow from even thinking about its relations with Taipei.
A comparison of the value of exports (direct imports from Taiwan to the Russian Federation) and total imports day after the outbreak of the war, the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Russia's actions.
According to the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance of Taiwan, the volume of mutual trade has consistently declined year-on-year.
At the same time, Russia is heavily dependent on imports- in April 2022 62% of Russian companies reported that they could not find suppliers in the Rus-sian domestic market.
Because of the failure of Russia's domestic industry to meet these requirements, interest in cutting-edge Taiwanese technologies has grown significantly.
Taiwan's lack of systematic enforcement of export control against Russia has allowed the latter's importers to become more active.
Imports through third countries contributed to the increase in supplies to the Russian Federation.
Data on the volume of such imports represent the difference between the value of exports from Taiwan to the Russian Federation and the total value of all imported Taiwanese products received by Russia.
From March to December 2022, Taiwanese machine tools worth more than $133 million were imported to Russia. Thus, Taiwan became the second country after China, whose products were supplied to the Russian Federation.
The top-5 manufacturers whose machine tools were imported to Russia in 2022-2023 are I Ma-chine Tools Corp, Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Ltd, Kao Fong Machinery Co., L.K. Machine-ry Corp, Akira Seiki Co., Ltd.
In 2022, after the introduction of international sanctions, Russian companies faced the need to circumvent these restrictions. As a result, manufacturers and importers have had to establish cooperation with manufacturing plants from Taiwan through third countries.
In addition, the Russian trend has been to conceal the true origin of the machines. This is how numerous trademarks appeared under which imported equipment is sold.
According to a report published by the centre for defense reforms, Key Taiwanese companies such as Buffalo Machinery, Victor Taichung Machinery and Akira Seiki play an important role in supplying advanced equipment to Russia, both directly and through intermediaries. Despite claims of compliance with sanctions, evidence suggests that cooperation with Russian defence contractors continues, especially through export routes via third countries.
