‘Tools of War’: New Platform Tracks Europe’s Exports Behind Russia’s Military Production
A new investigative initiative, Tools of War, has been launched to shed light on how European-made industrial equipment continues to sustain Russia’s military production despite sweeping Western sanctions.
The Gaze reports this, referring to a post by the project’s lead investigator and freelance journalist Dylan Carter on LinkedIn.
The platform, developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe, provides journalists, researchers, and policymakers with unprecedented access to verified trade data connecting European machine-tool exports to Russia’s arms industry.
Using an AI-assisted analytical model, the system scans and cross-references millions of lines of Russian customs data, highlighting suspicious or dual-use transactions that risk supporting Moscow’s military-industrial complex.
“European machine tools are fueling Russia's war machine. Today, we're giving journalists the data to expose it,” wrote Carter on social media. “This has been my team's labour of love, and it's now available to journalists and researchers worldwide who want to investigate the companies in their own countries supplying Russia's arms industry.”
The project’s first joint investigations were conducted in partnership with the Ukrainian initiative Trap Aggressor, a media project by the StateWatch think tank.
Trap Aggressor specializes in uncovering how Russia circumvents EU and U.S. sanctions, tracing Western-made components and machinery used in Russian weapons, and monitoring government responses to sanctions violations and asset confiscations.
According to the joint analysis, European suppliers continued to deliver critical industrial technologies to Russia even after 2014, and, in some cases, right up to the weeks preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
These transactions, the report argues, underscore systemic loopholes in export-control regimes and the urgent need for stricter enforcement.
In addition, at the heart of the project lies an extensive database built on nearly three million trade records, revealing how advanced machinery, produced and exported by European companies, was used to manufacture weapons and military components inside Russia.
The Tools of War resource is completely free and publicly accessible. It allows users to trace the origins of machine tools and analyze the trade networks behind Russia’s ongoing military buildup.
The team also offers training sessions and technical support for media organizations, NGOs, and policy researchers seeking to investigate trade links and sanction compliance.
The team plans to expand and update the database regularly throughout 2026, integrating additional customs data, corporate disclosures, and sanctions-compliance insights. Over time, Tools of War aims to become a comprehensive investigative hub for mapping transnational supply chains connected to Russia’s war economy.
Read also on The Gaze: The EU’s 19th Sanctions Package: A Strategic Offensive Against the Kremlin’s War Machine