Top spy blames Western companies for components in Russian missiles, drones
Western semiconductor companies are not making sufficient efforts to control their supply chains, which is why components continue to flow in large volumes to the Russian Federation, which uses them for its weapons against Ukraine.
The head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said this in a commentary to Bloomberg, Ukrinform reports.
“If you open any of these missiles or drones, you will see for yourself that they are full of Western components... Companies can say that they don't sell anything to Russia, that they just sell to some intermediaries. But this does not change the fact that these parts are getting to Russia in huge volumes,” he emphasized.
According to Budanov, these missiles are not sent from factories to warehouses, “they are sent directly to units on the front line, which launch them across Ukraine.”
The DIU chief noted that the only way to block the Kremlin's ability to shell Ukrainian territory is to stop the flow of semiconductors to Russia. However, according to him, this is not happening. “Everyone is looking away from what is happening,” he added.
According to Bloomberg, in 2022, the United States and its allies imposed export controls that banned the supply of a wide range of technologies to Russia in order to undermine its defense industry. The restrictions made it illegal to supply Western-designed semiconductors to Russia if they could be used for military purposes, even if they were made in China.
However, components made by a number of Western companies are regularly found in Russian missiles. These include the American Silicon Laboratories Inc, Texas Instruments Inc, Analog Devices, German Infineon Technologies, and the American company with Chinese capital Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. A large number of the parts that were found were made after February 2022.
The components are not sold directly to Russia, instead they come mainly through companies in China and Hong Kong, the publication notes. American chip companies use authorized distributors, who in turn sell to electronics suppliers around the world.
The United States has tried to stop the flow of missile components to Russia by taking tough measures against these intermediaries. At the end of August, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 400 entities for supporting Russia's war against Ukraine, including more than a dozen Hong Kong companies. However, it did not accuse Analog or other American manufacturers of violating export controls, the newspaper writes.
As reported by Ukrinform, missiles and drones used by Russia for daily attacks on peaceful cities and towns in Ukraine contain components made in more than 20 countries.
Since the start of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the EU has already imposed 14 packages of personal and sectoral economic sanctions against Russia to deprive it of access to high technology and the ability to finance its aggressive war. At the same time, the EU pays great attention to the introduction of “secondary” sanctions, which should prevent attempts to circumvent EU sanctions by individuals or legal entities, as well as individual countries.
The United States has recently imposed tougher sanctions against Russia in the IT sector.