News
Last year, Russia continued to import coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), which are critical for its military-industrial complex. As The Insider found, equipment supplies totaled over $20 million, with two leading brands standing out: Hexagon Corporation (Sweden) and Wenzel Corporation (Germany). Meanwhile, the company of GRU officer Viktor Labin, who established supplies of Western-made CMMs to Russia, has lost its position in the domestic market.
The Insider studied last year's customs data and discovered that Russia imported CMMs and CMM spare parts manufactured by more than 70 companies. The goods came mostly from China, but even if the machinery was assembled there, the production facilities and technologies involved are owned by a handful of large Western corporations. Half of the total CMM exports to Russia are provided by four Western corporations: Swedish Hexagon, German Wenzel, U.S.-based Automated Precision, and British Renishaw.
The main customs code under which the machines are exported is on the U.S. and EU sanctions lists. The machinery is supplied to Russia by at least one company affiliated with the manufacturer — Wenzel — and a number of resellers.
Among Russian buyers of CMMs, the leader last year was Kamadi JSC (АО «Камади»), which uses the commercial name MS Metrology and is affiliated with Maxim Kanevsky, a well-known importer of metrology equipment. Before government procurement data became classified, Kamadi was a regular supplier to major defense and space plants. Kamadi's revenue in 2023 amounted to more than 1 billion rubles ($11.5 million). At the time of writing, Kamadi was still listed among the partners of Wenzel Group.
Large CMM orders in 2024 were also placed by:
- Vladimir Petrov's Promyshlennaya Geodeziya LLC (ООО «Промышленная геодезия»), St. Petersburg (formerly a supplier to Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics)
- Roman Volkov's 3D K LLC (ООО «3Д К»), Kaluga (formerly a supplier of N.A. Pilyugin Scientific and Production Association of Automatics and Instrument Engineering)
- NPF Uran CJSC (ЗАО НПФ «Уран»), St. Petersburg
- UMIC LLC (ООО «Юмик»), Moscow
Moscow-based Grover International LLC (ООО «Гровер Интернэшнел»), whose beneficiary and CEO is Indian national Akhil Prakash.
Since the Russian government has classified public procurement data, it is now impossible to obtain information about the final recipients of the coordinate measuring machines. It is known that in 2015-2022, Wenzel equipment was ordered through government contracts by such organizations as the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation, Perm Motors United Engine Corporation, and the D. V. Efremov Research Institute of Electrophysical Instruments.
- Hexagon control and measuring machines were also purchased or leased by Perm Motors Instrument Plant JSC (АО «Инструментальный завод — Пермские моторы»), Perm Motors Proton JSC (АО «Протон — Пермские моторы»), and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute.
- Laser coordinate measuring machines by Automated Precision are in use at the Progress Rocket and Space Center and the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation.
- Renishaw CMMs were used by the United Engine Corporation and the D.V. Efremov Research Institute of Electrophysical Instruments.
100 times as accurate as a caliper
The purpose of a coordinate measuring machine is to check the geometry of manufactured objects. It achieves an accuracy of up to one micron across the entire measurement volume, which is about 100 times as accurate as using a caliper. Such devices are indispensable in mechanical engineering, along with the space, aviation, and military industries. The machine feels the part with a probe equipped with a sensor – a ruby “bead.” One probe costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Russian engineers actively use high-end, foreign-made CMMs. Thus, a commercial video of the Avisma plant (Sverdlovsk Region), which manufactures titanium products for the aerospace industry, showcases the work of a German-made Mora CMM. In another video, employees of PKP Rotor LLC ( ООО «ПКП „Ротор”») in Kovrov, Vladimir Region, measure a part with a Wenzel CMM. A video by Moscow-based Impex Craft LLC (ООО «Импэкс Крафт») shows the measurement process using British Renishaw equipment.
Early last year, The Insider wrote about the European business of GRU officer Viktor Labin, who had settled in Brussels and had set up deliveries of Western-made CMMs to Russia. In 2023, Labin’s business was going very well: his firm Sonatec was Russia's fifth largest importer, hauling in more than $2 million worth of products. The Insider found that Sonatec's Russian turnover shrank significantly in 2024, leaving the company only 9th in terms of purchases and slicing its imports by more than half.
The Insider sent inquiries to Kamadi JSC, IMS Center LLC, 3D K LLC, Grover International LLC, NPF Uran CJSC, UMIC LLC, Neva Technology LLC, and Sonatec LLC — as well as the Western manufacturers Hexagon, Wenzel, Automated Precision, Renishaw and intermediaries Accurate Gauging, Instruments, and Masadan Trading.