17.12.2024 – Translated from Ukrainian via Google and OFP
Vadym Skibitsky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, spoke about the key areas of work in the fight against the Russian military-industrial complex. He called secondary sanctions, which significantly limit the supply of components to Russian enterprises through indirect schemes and third countries, one of the effective tools.
He stated this during the conference “European Defense Industry: Prospects for Cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Industry”, organized by the We Build Ukraine think tank. Skibitsky stressed that secondary sanctions significantly affect the reduction of foreign components for Russian weapons production.
“The first step that needs to be taken is to strengthen international sanctions. And we see how the flow of relevant components to the Russian Federation is decreasing. The so-called secondary sanctions are also hitting the Russian Federation very hard,” he said.
These sanctions target companies and schemes that use third countries to deliver essential parts to Russia, making it significantly more difficult to supply components for Russian military production.
Skibitsky stressed the importance of kinetic and non-kinetic influence, including cyberattacks and information operations. Such measures are aimed at destabilizing the work of Russian defense enterprises and hindering their effective production of weapons.
“This is the cybersphere, this is the information sphere, etc. Without influence, it is impossible to stop production,” noted the representative of the Ministry of Defense’s GUR.
In addition, he emphasized the need to avoid supplying weapons to the Russian occupation forces. This requires the destruction of warehouses and arsenals, which requires significant resources and coordination of actions.
Skibitsky called on international partners to cooperate more actively and share resources in this area. According to him, only joint efforts can effectively increase pressure on the Russian military-industrial complex and deprive it of the ability to support military operations.
OBOZ.UA previously reported that the EU has proposed imposing sanctions on more than a dozen individuals and three organizations. These will be the first sanctions directed against Russia for its disinformation operations and other hybrid activities.
“Skibitsky stressed that secondary sanctions significantly affect the reduction of foreign components for Russian weapons production.”
Tragically, such sanctions took much too long to be implemented. It’s anyone’s guess how many lives it has cost for not doing so sooner. But, like always, better late than never.
With the reduced availability of Western components, the third world shithole won’t be able to build the number of weapons it has been and not in the same quality. We’ll see it in real by a dwindling number of missiles and glide bombs and by their accuracies and dependability dropping.