Western technology is still finding its way into Russia. This raises doubts about the effectiveness of the sanctions. Therefore, the relevant institutions in the US and Europe are working out additional possibilities for restrictions.

The New York Times reported on this.

It is noted that last month, the US and EU officials traded information on what technology Russia could be purchasing. This regards millions of dollars worth of technology.

Currently, there is a surge in chips and other electronic components being sold to Russia through Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other countries, according to documents obtained by journalists.

They shared information on the flow of eight particularly sensitive categories of chips and other electronic devices that have been deemed critical to the development of weapons, including Russian cruise missiles.

This list also includes a component called a “field programmable gate array”, which had been discovered in one of Russia’s Kh-101 cruise missiles.

Direct sales of chips to Russia from the United States and its allies have plummeted to zero. U.S. officials say Russia has already blown through much of its supply of its most accurate weapons and has been forced to substitute lower-quality or counterfeit parts that make its weaponry less accurate.

However, other countries provide the required supplies to the Russian Federation. After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s chip imports crept back up, particularly from China. Imports between October and January were 50 percent or more of median prewar levels each month.

It is emphasized that the supply chain is very large and complex, and it is, therefore, almost impossible to track it.

As Russia tried to get around restrictions, U.S. officials have steadily ratcheted up their rules, including adding sanctions on dozens of companies and organizations in Russia, Iran, China, Canada, and elsewhere.

The United States has also expanded its trade restrictions to include toasters, hair dryers, and microwaves, all of which contain chips.

But the illicit trade in chips is proving hard to police, given the ubiquity of semiconductors.

In 2021, companies shipped 1.15 trillion chips to customers globally, adding to a huge worldwide stockpile. China, which is not part of the sanctions regime, is pumping out increasingly sophisticated chips.

The first known example of Russia making weapons with chips manufactured after the start of the invasion of Ukraine was discovered.

Three identical chips produced by a U.S. company in an offshore factory were found in Lancet drones.

The manufacturer of the chips is not disclosed, and it is unclear how these products ended up in Russia. At the same time, export control was not necessarily violated since restrictions on the supply of such chips were introduced in September, and semiconductors were manufactured in August and likely shipped right after that.

On the other hand, this confirms that Russia’s pre-war reserves are running out.

One of the documents studied by journalists reports that in 2022, Armenia imported 515 percent more chips and processors from the United States and 212 percent more from the European Union than in 2021.

Armenia then exported 97 percent of those same products to Russia.

The intelligence information shared between the United States and Europe is part of an intensifying effort to minimize the leakage of such items to Russia.

The United States and the European Union have both recently sent officials to the countries that were shipping more to Russia to try and cut down that trade.