With its money supply running low during the rebel uprising, the Syrian government received a huge infusion of currency from Russia, according to ProPublica.

The investigative website obtained records showing Russia sent more than 200 tons of “bank notes” to Syria over a 10-week period from early July to mid September.

According to the flight manifests, a Syrian transport plane made eight round-trip flights between Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport and Damascus International Airport, with each trip involving 30 tons of bank notes.

The logs do not specify the type of currency that was shipped.

Since fighting broke out between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rebels, the government has struggled financially. The U.S. and European nations have imposed sanctions against Syria, including a ban on minting Syrian currency, which caused the regime to lose access to an Austrian bank that had printed its bank notes.

Last June, the Syrian Central Bank denied a Reuters report claiming that Russia had printed and delivered bank notes. Then in August, Syrian and Russian economic officials held a news conference in Moscow where the Syrians reportedly acknowledged that Russia was supplying them with cash, an arrangement that Syria’s deputy prime minister described as a “triumph” over sanctions.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, Danny Biederman

To Learn More:

Flight Records Say Russia Sent Syria Tons of Cash (by Dafna Linzer, Michael Grabell and Jeff Larson, ProPublica)

Syrian Flight Manifests (ProPublica)

Syria Now Running a War Economy as Conflict spreads (by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Reuters)

Is the Fighting in Syria a Behind-the-Scenes Return to Cold War? (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)