On September 24th, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an advisor to the President of Ukraine, revealed that around 60% of the foreign components found in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine come from China (the Chinese Communist Party).
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite facing harsh Western sanctions, Russia has still been able to replenish various military equipment with chips and semiconductors manufactured in Western countries.
Ukrainian officials stated that not only does Russia acquire components from China (the Chinese Communist Party), but they also purchased thousands of drones from Iran.
Vlasiuk stated, “When considering all common types of weapons and their foreign-manufactured components, around 60% come from China.”
He is currently in Brussels meeting with members of the European Union and the G7 to discuss further sanctions against Russia.
He said, “I believe that China (the Chinese Communist Party) is the biggest issue.”
Vlasiuk mentioned that China not only provides support to Russia but also serves as a transit point for Western products. This is because Ukraine discovered that vital components used by Russia in the war, such as surveillance, drones, and missiles, also come from Western countries like the USA, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, and Switzerland.
Despite repeated denials from the Chinese Communist Party about providing weapons or components to either side and claiming non-involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, Vlasiuk revealed that Ukraine found a range of advanced chips manufactured by American companies.
These companies include Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Xilinx under AMD, Cypress Semiconductor owned by Infineon from Germany, and Altera (a subsidiary of Intel).
Documents shown by Vlasiuk to journalists indicated that some products were manufactured over a decade ago, while others were produced last year. He mentioned that these documents only listed hundreds of examples found on the battlefield, and not all origin dates of the components could be confirmed.
He also highlighted that for some chips, the Ukrainian government could not ascertain if they were designed for missiles or other commodities.
Vlasiuk suggested that the EU could take more measures to impede the flow of Western products into Russia, including actions against the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom.
He said, “We believe Russia has been using the network of Rosatom to support its military.”
Rosatom is one of the world’s largest nuclear energy companies and the largest power-generating company in Russia. It ranks first in the largest investment portfolio for the construction of new nuclear power plants overseas, currently constructing 36 nuclear power plants in 12 countries.
Given Russia’s dominant position in nuclear power plant supplies, European countries are cautious about taking any action.
Vlasiuk proposed that the EU could target Russia’s logistics, such as airports and seaports, and financial institutions facilitating sales for sanctions.
He mentioned that the EU could follow the US’s sanctions on IT, as these measures have been highly effective since coming into effect earlier this month.
Sanctions imposed on September 12 prohibit US companies or individuals from providing IT consulting, design, support, and cloud services to Russia.
(Adapted from a Reuters report)