Russia is claiming that Canada is a “warmonger,” following a recent deal between Hamilton-based Sentinel R&D and Ukraine’s Airlogix.
The news: Earlier this week at a press conference in Moscow, Russian officials labelled Canada a “warmonger” in the wake of a deal between the Department of National Defence (DND), Canadian defencetech company Sentinel R&D, and Ukraine to supply drone manufacturing to the Eastern European country. Russian officials also threatened to publish the address of the Hamilton-based Sentinel R&D, potentially exposing the company to security threats.
From the source: “[It] changes nothing from our perspective. The Canadian DND and Sentinel [deal] will proceed as planned,” Sentinel CEO Kath Intson told BetaKit in a conversation on LinkedIn. “We take all threats to the security of ourselves, our employees, and our facilities with the requisite amount of seriousness. Our plans are unchanged at the moment.”
Following the thread: Russia’s comments came via foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. Zakharova claimed the deal between Canada and Ukraine allowed Ukraine to hide its military supplies in a third country. Zakharova added that the agreement between Canada and Ukraine would impact Russia’s military and political planning.
The Russian ambassador to Canada, Oleg V. Stepanov, doubled down on the critique of the partnership, stating that the deal was evidence of Canada trying to profit from the ongoing war. Under the agreement, the Canadian Commercial Corporation would purchase drone components from Sentinel R&D, and donate them to Ukraine.
Final thought: Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s war has rapidly accelerated the development and deployment of drone technology and its use on the battlefield. Ukraine has been at the forefront of much of that development. This week, tech magazine New Scientist published reports confirming that Ukraine had tested fully autonomous, AI-controlled drones and used them to kill Russian combatants roughly two years ago. That confirmation marks the first known instance of fully AI controlled weapons being used in the battlefield.
There is currently no international ban on autonomous weapons capable of killing without human involvement, but the United Nations has called for one.
Feature image courtesy Lilac for BetaKit.