Volunteers uncovered ways to bypass bans on buying drones on online platforms

There were difficulties with the purchase of UAVs on the Web

On March 2, on the marketplace Aliexpress, a division of the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, Russians had difficulty buying popular quadcopters. We are talking not only about finished products, but also about spare parts, batteries and accessories for them. This technique is actively used in hostilities, supplied to the front by volunteers. People who systematically purchase drones explained to MK how they would get around these “sanctions”.

Among the brands that had difficulty buying from Russia are DJI (Mavic), Fimi, Hubsan. Users of forums where drones are discussed and specialized telegram channels confirmed that some things cannot be bought under Russian accounts and delivered to the Russian Federation.

“There have been difficulties before, this is not the first time,” Oleg, who has been participating in volunteer procurement of drones since last spring, explained to MK. – Sometimes this is due to customs – you can buy, but the delivery wraps up. Sometimes something else. I think we need to wait, such problems have a tendency to resolve.

The owner of a Moscow online store selling copters and spare parts for them told MK that last year, due to customs difficulties, some purchases were returned to the sender. “It may very well be that the sellers were simply fed up, for them the shipment to Russia turned out to be too unreliable, they do not want to risk returns,” he reflects.

Recall that drones and spare parts for them sometimes fall under customs restrictions as dual-use goods. According to official information from the Customs Service, a license from the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEC) of Russia is required to import such goods. An exception is if drones have a 30-minute or more autonomous flight time and wind resistance up to 25 knots (or an hour or more autonomous flight time).

At the same time, the drones of these manufacturers are usually declared as amateur and are used both by photographers and cameramen, and in search and rescue operations, as a universal means of observation. In the same capacity, we note, “Maviks” are used at the front.

“Of course, there are alternatives to Aliexpress, these are, first of all, purchases in online stores for the domestic Chinese market,” the owner of the Russian “drone” store told MK. According to him, if we are talking about a batch of copters, then purchasing through such stores will be more profitable than on Aliexpress, and delivery is even faster.

However, there is an important nuance: it is more difficult for a private trader who is not used to such procedures to carry out such purchases than for an importer who is used to negotiating delivery methods and settlements with the Chinese side. Therefore, such a blocking – if, of course, this is really a permanent measure – will cause the most inconvenience to individual volunteers who purchase one drone for a particular fighter or unit.