How can Russia produce weapons with foreign parts despite sanctions?

During the first two weeks of September, Russia launched over 640 Shahed drones at Ukrainian cities, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

And Moscow won’t run out of them any time soon as microchips, semiconductors and other microelectronics from China, the US and the EU are still being found in Russian drones and missiles launched at Ukraine.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Zelenskyy’s advisor and commissioner for sanctions policy, said Moscow has still been able to replenish its war machine, although the sanctions did impact it.

“Russians are still quite able to acquire those parts and produce the weapons, including missiles and drones. We also are quite happy that the Russians are receiving less parts than they want and they are paying much higher price than they wanted to,” Vlasiuk told Euronews. 

The EU sanctions envoy, David O’Sullivan, has more details and numbers: “We estimate that in some cases for microelectronics it is now 125% more expensive than it was, in some cases 300% more expensive. So this all together constitutes a considerable damage to the Russian military industrial complex.”

He says one of the key steps in making it possible is identifying the list of the priority battlefield products, done by the Kyiv scientific research institute of forensic expertise.  

Priority products for the battlefield

Nataliia Nestor, Deputy Director of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise (KSRIFE) of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, said that throughout last year, the institute’s experts conducted about 30,000 studies related to the facts of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.

According to her, they studied almost all types of missiles Russia uses to attack Ukraine: Iskander, Kinzhal, Kalibr, Kh-101, Kh-55, Kh-59, and others.

In addition, attack drones such as Shahed-136 and Shahed-121, and reconnaissance drones Kartograf, Orlan-10 and Supercam are researched as well.

Most components from EU countries are found in the Geranium-2 aka Shahed-136 and Orlan drones, as well as in other reconnaissance UAVs (Eleron, ZALA), and in missiles of the Iskander, Kh-101, and Kinzhal systems.

“For example, in attack drones, we (usually) find processors, microcircuits, switches, contact groups, sensors, diodes, chips, fuel pumps, flash memory, etc all made in the EU,” Nestor told Euronews.

How does Moscow get the components?

Russia has a fairly large “agent network” around the world, which makes it easier to bring the required components through intermediary or third-party countries, bypassing the sanctions. 

Most of the foreign parts are so-called dual-use components. This means that they can be used in household appliances but can also be included in weapons. Some of those found in Russian drones and missiles are parts commonly found in washing machines, cameras, online networking devices, and other consumer electronics.

“Unfortunately, the things that were invented to make this world easier are not used for peaceful purposes. They make it dangerous and lead to numerous civilian deaths,” Nestor said.

Another factor is Russia’s ability to adapt. Every time, the KSRIFE experts find a different set of parts in missiles and drones used for the same purpose. This, according to experts, proves that the sanctions do work.

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“Russian military producers use the capabilities they have. This indicates that they have not established a regular supply of parts from the European Union.”

“That is, today’s supplier may come from Switzerland, tomorrow from Germany, then from the Netherlands, and so on. Different components are produced in different countries,” Nestor said, adding that on top of that, Russia has started to produce components on its own, which means the military production there will not slow down any time soon. 

Moscow continues to signal its commitment to its drone production capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the country’s Military-Industrial Commission on 19 September and discussed ongoing efforts to increase Russian drone production.

He claimed that Russian companies delivered roughly 140,000 UAVs to Russian forces in 2023, adding that this year, production is planned to increase tenfold to 1.4 million drones.

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