The International Working Group on Sanctions against Russia, co-chaired by Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak and Director of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) Ambassador Michael McFaul, has presented a new report ( № 12) aimed at restricting the Russian military-industrial complex's access to Western technologies.
The Head of the President's Office said that the document contains convincing evidence of how Western components continue to contribute to Russia's full-scale invasion and war against Ukraine. The Russian X-101 missile, which killed 11 people, including one child, in a five-story residential building in Kryvyi Rih on June 13 this year, contained 53 critical components obtained from democratic countries, Andriy Yermak reminded.
According to him, the report provides detailed recommendations on how to prevent Russia from getting critical missile components from democratic states.
"If they are fulfilled, we will significantly limit Russia's ability to produce new missiles and replenish its arsenal," said the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
He emphasized that in the second half of 2022, Russia managed to restore and even exceed the pre-sanctions level of imports of critical components for the production of various weapons.
"We have provided all the information contained in this report and all the evidence to our international partners, and now we expect decisive, quick and effective actions," said Andriy Yermak.
In his opinion, it is important not only to significantly tighten sanctions, but also to substantially improve the procedures and practices for applying existing restrictions.
"It is necessary to completely stop the transfer of technological components for the production of weapons from democratic countries to Russia immediately, as well as to gradually completely isolate Russia from trade with the free world, except for a few humanitarian categories," the Head of the Presidential Office emphasized.
According to Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, sanctions must be strengthened until the terrorist state loses the ability to continue waging aggressive war.
The report demonstrates that the backbone of Russia's modern military apparatus still largely depends on sophisticated electronics coming from developed countries. In particular, western-made microchips were found in every type of equipment examined by Ukrainian authorities.
An analysis of 1,057 foreign components of Russian military equipment manufactured by 155 companies shows that Russia's military supply chain has maintained access to critical Western technologies since the beginning of the war through 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
The study showed that the critical components found on the battlefield since April last year are contained in a wide range of weapons, including missiles, armored vehicles, artillery, helicopters, electronic warfare systems, etc.
"The 155 companies whose products were identified in Russian weapons accounted for $2.9 billion in sales of critical components to Russia in 2022. At the same time, the supply is almost entirely carried out through third countries," said Vladyslav Vlasyuk, Secretary of the International Sanctions Expert Group.
The report was prepared by representatives of the Yermak-McFaul International Working Group and the Kyiv School of Economics.
The International Working Group on Sanctions against Russia is working on the instructions of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.