Russia bought from the West components related to military equipment for $ 20.3 billion – media

Purchases are not made directly – most of the dual-use technology is imported from China.

Russia is exploiting loopholes by buying huge amounts of technology from the West , which it uses to wage war against Ukraine. Over 60% of Russia’s imported critical weapons components come from American companies.

According to Newsweek , from March to December 2022, the Putin regime imported $20.3 billion worth of components related to military equipment, which is only 15% less than in 2021. Overall, Russia has bought technology from 155 companies headquartered in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 66% of foreign critical components in weapons systems used by the Russian military in Ukraine were produced by US-headquartered companies.

It is noted that purchases are not made directly – most of the dual-use technology is imported from China. According to KSE , 1,057 foreign components have been identified in Russian technology. Microchips and processors account for almost half of all imports, but Moscow also imports a host of other goods used in navigation and communications systems and other elements of modern warfare.

In some cases, the flow of critical components has increased in the first three months of 2023: 28% more bearings and 27% more navigation and sensor systems compared to the last quarter of 2022. Four types of Russian-made cruise missiles – Kh-59, Kh-101, Kalibr and Iskander – were found to contain imported microcircuits, processors, transceivers, memory devices, transistors, DC converters and other components.

Foreign components were found in 7 types of Russian armored vehicles and artillery mounts, including the Tor-M2 air defense system and the T-72 tank, as well as in seven different types of drones, including the Russian Orlan-10 and two Iranian Shahed models. -131″ and “Shahed-136”.

Critical components made by five U.S. companies—Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Microchip Technology, Intel Corporation, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)—account for 52% of technology imports, but Russia also gains access to more SMEs than previously reported.

Foreign components in Russian weapons

The manufacturer of optical devices Yukon Advanced Optics Worldwide, which was created by the Belarusians and operates in Vilnius, Lithuania, continues to supply Russians with military equipment . This is happening despite the company’s announcement to withdraw from the Russian market. Since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Russian company Mezon-A, which is part of the Yukon group, has received at least 2.3 million euros from Russian customers for the goods sold.

According to the document of the Yermak-McFaul sanctions group, more than 80% of the electronic components in Russian missiles come from US companies. The second country in the ranking of the share of electronics is Switzerland (8%). Japan and Germany account for 3.5% each.

(C)UNIAN 2023