Russian Explosive Makers Use Fertilizer Firms to Blunt Sanctions

Russia is scheduled to receive deliveries of chemical ingredients critical to the manufacture of explosives, ordered from fertilizer companies that have largely escaped international sanctions, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

Tens of thousands of tons of nitric acid and a nitric-sulphuric-acid mix have been ordered for entities and plants controlled by JSC Spetskhimiya, one of Russia’s biggest makers of explosives, the documents show. The contracts are one way in which the country maintains its military strength despite rigorous economic restrictions.

The orders for the Spetskhimiya-controlled facilities were placed with subsidiaries of fertilizer producers EuroChem Group AG and UralChem JSC ...