We have checked internally and it is very unlikely that Michelin exported any military tire to Russia during the past three years:

1. Michelin has sold all its assets in Russia, in particular its factory (in 2023). No more local production. And in any case, local tire production was not for military use or double use. So there was no riks on that side.
2. Michelin exported only very very few technical military tires to Russia in the past (maybe 100, 200 technical tires), but stopped all these exports when the crisis started in Belarus, far before the beginning of the war with Ukraine. The decision was taken on purpose, to avoid any connection with the Russian army.
3. All exports to Russia (double use, i.e. tires that can be used both for civilian and military usage; civil) have been banned in 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, with last residual flows in early 2023 (we talked about it already last year; very limited number of tires which were already on their way in containers or past orders and inventories).

If you have documented the presence of Michelin tires on the battlefield in Ukraine, there can be two different sources:

• Old double-use tires reused for military purposes (ex : a tire sold by Michelin prior to 2022 for a firefighter tuck and reallocated to a military truck), but this is very unlikely and would be only for a few units. It is always possible, but we don’t believe it happened.
• Tires provided to ex-Soviet union military tucks belonging to EU or non EU Eastern European countries and captured by Russian army on the battelfield in Ukraine. This is also possible, but again it can be only for a few, limited number of captured trucks or armoured cars, and the Ukrainian army must know about it and can trace it.

Therefore, the only possibility for Michelin military or double-use tires to enter in Russia and equip Russian army trucks would be illegal re-export from a third country. It is always possible, but also unlikely for big volumes, because we document the flows and we would have seen a statistically unusual increase in demand. If you have documented such flows, we need to have detailed information.