Journalists’ undercover probe shows Russia still obtaining Western chips for missiles with ease
Pravda Ukraine
Journalists from the Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian online newspaper, have posed as a Russian arms manufacturer and have found that chips from Europe and the US are still reaching Russian arms producers through intermediary firms.
Source: a Kyiv Independent investigation
Details: Despite US and European bans on supplying electronic components to Russia, dozens of Russian microelectronics suppliers continue to obtain and resell imported chips to Russian arms manufacturers.
The Kyiv Independent posed as a Russian defence manufacturer to verify this supply chain and attempted to order US chips from Russian trading companies.
The most challenging part of the experiment was not purchasing the banned chips but simply creating an email account on a Russian service, as these are blocked in Ukraine.
“When that was done, trying to buy banned Western chips in Russia was easy,” the newspaper writes.
The Kyiv Independent contacted Russian suppliers with a request for chips, receiving responses from ten companies confirming their ability to provide the required components.
Russian firms Imotek, AST Components, Elsup, Altex, RTKT and Vneshtekhsnab said they could deliver within one and a half to three months.
Modern Digital Technologies, Electromir and Imotek sent offers specifying the production years of the chips, including those manufactured between 2022 and 2024.
One company provided a list featuring millions of chips from well-known US and European manufacturers, including components used in Russian missiles and loitering munitions.
Western chips reach Russia through third countries that have not imposed restrictions, with China and Hong Kong serving as the main suppliers of American chips.
These companies are either Chinese suppliers of Western microelectronics with many years of experience or newly established entities without websites or public contact information.
The list of companies that have supplied chips to the Russian Federation contains Hong Kong-based Analog Technology, Icscan Electronic, China’s Berton Electronics and about 50 other companies. Some of them are under US sanctions, while others are not.
In turn, the Russian companies Elsup, Modern Digital Technologies, Imotek and other chip traders have been reselling imported components to the Rosselectronics holding company.
In this scheme, Chinese suppliers resell the chips to Russian buyers, who then supply them to the Russian defence sector.
Read also: Russia is importing ASML equipment in parts to produce microchips. Why aren’t sanctions working?
It is unclear how many times the chips are sold and resold before reaching the Russian defence company.
Customs records show that the American chips are manufactured in various countries, including the United States, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and others. In other words, some of these chips were likely produced in US plants located outside the United States.
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