The British Intelligence Daily Report of February 2 focused on the difficulties in exporting Russian weapons caused by the war in Ukrainereports the BBC Russian service.
The invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions appear to have undermined Russia’s role as a reliable arms exporter. Even before the war, Russia’s share in the international arms market began to decline. Now, choosing between supplying new weapons to partners and deploying them in Ukraine, the Russian authorities most likely prefer the latter.
Parts shortages are also likely to affect the production of export equipment such as armored vehicles, attack helicopters and air defense systems.
In addition, Russia’s ability to service existing contracts — to supply parts and perform maintenance — is likely to be severely undermined for at least another three to five years.
In the seven months to October 31, 2022 computer and other electronic components worth at least 2.6 billion dollars entered Russia, Russian customs records show. At least 777 million dollars of these products were produced by Western companieswhose chips have been found in Russian weapons systems: US Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), Texas Instruments Inc and Analog Devices Inc, as well as Germany’s Infineon AG.
In March of this year, a new company appeared in the corporate register of Turkey. Azu International Ltd Sti describes itself as a wholesaler of IT products and a week later it began supplying American computer parts to Russia, however, Reuters revealed.
