Map the dependency
Identify a material, component, or capability the target regime cannot produce at scale. Trace the global supply — producers, intermediaries, end users.
A project of Anti-Corruption Action
We don't need a war
to stop a war.
The Dekleptocracy Project applies anti-corruption research methods to find the chemicals, components, and capital flows that Russia cannot replace. Each vulnerability is a lever the West can pull without firing a shot.
4
global producers of a single chemical Russia's army needs
59
pages of vulnerabilities in our latest study
Oct
next major report concludes
Mission
Most Americans want Ukraine free.
So do we.
Washington's posture toward Moscow may shift with every administration. Our posture does not. The Dekleptocracy Project exists because a free Ukraine is the firewall protecting every other free society from a kleptocratic order spreading east to west.
We are researchers, not soldiers. Our weapon is open-source financial and supply-chain analysis. The same tools that uncover money laundering can map where Russia's war machine depends on a handful of foreign suppliers. Each dependency is a lever the West can pull without escalation.
“Violating sanctions is, in practice, money laundering. Money laundering is something we are very good at finding.”
Research
Vulnerabilities in the Russian Chemical Industry
By Andrew Fink for The Dekleptocracy Project · February 2026
Russia exports oil. Russia cannot, on its own, refine it. A handful of catalysts, additives, and feedstocks that turn crude into gasoline, jet fuel, lubricants, and tire rubber are produced at industrial scale by only a small number of firms worldwide. Several are not in Russia.
Our study traces those dependencies node by node, naming the producers, intermediaries, and trading firms. The same methodology applies anywhere a hostile state relies on materials it cannot make. The chemical industry is the first case. It will not be the last.
Refining catalysts
The substances that crack crude oil into usable fuels. Russia does not manufacture them at scale.
Lubricant additives
Without them, modern engines and tanks seize. Global production is concentrated in a handful of firms.
Tire and rubber inputs
Military logistics run on tires. Tires run on chemistry Russia imports.
Trade-layer intermediaries
Firms in third countries that re-route restricted goods. Each is a discrete enforcement target.
In Progress · Concludes October 2026
Our next major report extends the methodology beyond chemistry.
We are tracking the lessons learned as we go — what signals worked, what trade routes shifted, which sanctions regimes had teeth, which did not. The output is both a public-facing report and an internal playbook for applying the same approach to other authoritarian supply chains.
Methodology
Bringing accountability to Putin's enablers.
Violating sanctions is, in practice, money laundering — and we are experts in catching money launderers. We use sanctions as a legal backstop to trigger repercussions against the companies profiting by helping Russia's invasion.
Find the chokepoints
Concentrate on nodes where production is held by a handful of firms or routed through a small number of trading houses. These are pressure points.
Follow the money
Sanctions evasion looks, on paper, exactly like money laundering. Apply standard AML techniques to surface beneficial owners, shell companies, and shadow fleets.
Publish, equip, defend
Deliver the evidence to enforcement bodies, journalists, allied governments, and the public. Each disclosure narrows the regime’s options without firing a weapon.
Why this matters beyond Ukraine.
The same approach works against any regime whose economy depends on goods it cannot produce. The leverage gained is an alternative to military escalation. The cost of applying it is the cost of researchers and analysts — a fraction of one cruise missile.
- Identify chokepoints before they become flashpoints.
- Equip allies with named targets, not vague calls for sanctions.
- Turn private research into public accountability.
- Build a playbook that outlives any single administration.
The point of all of this
Russia runs on Western technology.
Russia cannot produce the basic technology its own war machine depends on. It has to buy it from the West. The people and companies selling that technology to Moscow are profiting from the invasion — and that flow of goods is what we exist to interrupt.
Press
What the world is saying.
The GuardianNovember 27, 2025
West is missing obscure sanctions that could set back Russia's war machine
Coverage of the research approach behind The Dekleptocracy Project.
Read the articleReutersSeptember 5, 2024
US imposes sanctions on companies, vessels linked to Arctic LNG 2
Reporting on the supply-chain enforcement actions the methodology supports.
Read the articleAdditional coverage is collected on the Anti-Corruption Action newsroom.
Support the Work
Help Ukraine win.
Fund the research.
Every dollar funds the analysts, attorneys, and open-source investigators who trace the supply chains keeping Russia's war machine running — and the named targets that follow. The Dekleptocracy Project is a program of Anti-Corruption Action, a Virginia 501(c)(3). Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law.
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