The EU sanctioned Russia’s Starlink rival but not the company that builds it. Experts call that the gap that matters

The Ukrainian government has targeted Russia's low-Earth-orbit satellite network, Rassvet, with sanctions, but it has notably excluded the company responsible for assembling the satellites, Bureau 1440. Both a U.S. research group and a Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdog have highlighted this discrepancy, emphasizing that it represents the critical gap in the Western response.

Bureau 1440, which launched its first 16 satellites in March 2026, aims to provide Moscow's troops with independent communications that are not reliant on SpaceX's Starlink service. Despite being placed on Ukraine's own sanctions list, the company and its leaders have remained untouched by Western sanctions, leaving Ukrainian authorities with a significant opportunity to further isolate the firm.

Experts suggest that designating Bureau 1440 could make the components and Western supplies it depends on more difficult and costly to source, although they caution that expecting immediate and dramatic effects is unrealistic. The EU initially targeted the Rassvet network but did not include the manufacturer on its sanctions list, a decision that Ukrainian officials have criticized.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has urged the EU to sanction the project, and he has submitted a list of nine entities associated with Rassvet to the UN's telecom agency. Ukraine believes that implementing sanctions against Rassvet could provide a valuable window of opportunity to disrupt Russian communications, potentially buying time for Ukraine in its military efforts.