The German current-affairs weekly described the practice on its website on Thursday, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin needs semiconductors from Europe and the United States to develop advanced cruise missiles, tanks and other weapons for its army, Focus said, according to the polskieradio.pl website.
Western sanctions had been designed to slow this process, according to Focus, polskieradio.pl reported.
Yet Ukrainian soldiers have been discovering a growing number of Western components in newly made Russian weaponry, the German magazine said in its article, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Role of Western tech
According to James Byrne from the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), a UK think tank, Russia would not be able to wage its months-long war against Ukraine without Western technology, polskieradio.pl reported, citing Focus.
In the first seven months of the war in Ukraine, Russian military equipment was fitted with at least USD 700 million worth of Western technology, polskieradio.pl said, citing the Reuters news agency.
Those electronic parts had been produced by American corporations, including Intel, AMD and Texas Instruments, as well as Infineon, a German firm based near Munich, according to Focus, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Evidence suggests that Russian arms makers had prepared for Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, importing vast amounts of electronic parts prior to February 24, 2022, polskieradio.pl said.
However, the stocks of Western tech should be depleted by now, and Russia has indeed cut its arms production notably, or switched to making older weapons, according to polskieradio.pl.
Re-exports through Turkey
Yet Moscow is still producing modern rockets, thanks to electronic parts trafficked from the West, Focus reported, as cited by polskieradio.pl.
Even though Infineon had banned the sale of its products and services to Russia immediately after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, components made by this German company are still being found in Russian weaponry, polskieradio.pl said.
The German magazine reported that Turkey appeared to have emerged as a hub for the re-export of Western technology to Russia, according to polskieradio.pl.
Focus quoted RUSI’s James Byrne as saying that prior to the war, Russian businessmen had set up companies in Turkey that now supply vital tech for Russia’s defence industry.
In addition, several German companies are using Turkey as a transshipment point for deliveries to Russia, sidestepping sanctions, according to investigative journalists from Germany’s Redaktionsnetzwerks Deutschland collective, polskieradio.pl reported, citing Focus.
Role of white goods, consumer electronics
Moreover, according to experts who have examined Western electronic components found in Russian weapons, many of them are taken from household appliances and consumer-electronics devices, Focus said, according to polskieradio.pl.
This is because Western countries continue to supply such products as mobile phones and laptop computers to Russia.
Such moves are designed to help the Russian public access the Telegram social messaging app and independent blogs and news websites that provide an antidote to the Kremlin’s propaganda.
However, Russian arms makers exploit this loophole, importing mobile phones and laptops from the West to obtain microchips, hard disks and other electronic parts that are then used in manufacturing weapons, polskieradio.pl reported.
Thursday is day 344 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Source: polskieradio.pl, focus.de