Western sanctions aimed at the defense industry confirmed the impact on combat capabilities
Instead of precision-guided bullets, a blank copper bullet… Recycling of home appliances and semiconductors
U.S. foreign policy media Foreign Policy (FP) reported on the 12th (local time) that Russia is unable to stock up on high-tech weapons to use in the Ukraine battlefield due to international sanctions.
According to the report, the US and British governments are analyzing that Russia is currently running out of high-tech weapons stocks and is instead using more conventional weapons.
Analysts say that the Russian military has reduced its use and increased the use of aged munitions after exhausting a significant number of precision-guided weapons it had at the beginning of the invasion and experiencing difficulties in stocking them.
In the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, it is known that conventional bombs without guidance are being used.
There have also been reports of the Russian military taking out semiconductors from home appliances and using them as precision parts for military weapons.
Commerce Secretary Gina Lemando said at a Senate hearing on the same day that “I have received reports that Russian military equipment captured in Ukraine is filled with semiconductors from refrigerators and dishwashers.”
“Since the start of sanctions on Russia, US exports of science and technology products to Russia have plummeted by nearly 70 percent,” he said.
This is due to the West-led sanctions against Russia and export controls.
Immediately after the invasion of Ukraine in late February, the United States banned the export of high-tech products to Russia.
Semiconductors, computers, communications, information security equipment, lasers, and sensors were subject to export control under the export restriction policy announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce at the time.
In particular, the FDPR, which prohibits export of products made abroad, if US software or technology was used in the manufacturing process, was also applied.
Since the invasion, the US government has placed on the list of sanctions, including 147 organizations and 35 individuals linked to the Russian defense sector.
These included Boris Obnosov, president of Russia’s state-owned Tactical Missile Company (KTRV), which produces hypersonic weapons, and 28 subsidiaries.
A senior U.S. Department of Defense official said, “I believe that the foundation of Russia’s defense industry and its ability to mobilize precision guided missiles have been affected in relation to sanctions and export controls, especially parts and electronic components. It is clear,” he analyzed.
Russia is also experiencing the problem of IT personnel leaving the country.
Up to 70,000 computer experts left Russia in March, and an additional 100,000 are expected, a spokeswoman for the Commonwealth Office of Development (FCDO) at the British Foreign Ministry told FP.
However, as the Western government is reluctant to disclose confidential information, it is difficult to ascertain exactly to what extent the Russian military industry has been affected.
Currently, Russia has established an inter-ministerial committee to procure additional military equipment internally, or to obtain microprocessors and finished weapons from friendly countries such as China.
However, it is evaluated that Russia still has a lot of conventional weapons, so it has enough room to continue the war.
“Russia will have trouble securing a supply of precision guided missiles or advanced equipment and weapons,” a senior defense official from an Eastern European country told FP. warned
/yunhap news
