Western exports of key microchips and electronics that Russia needs to fuel its war machine are back to pre-invasion levels, as Moscow has ramped up efforts to circumvent sanctions, a top official said Wednesday, Ednews reports citing Politico publication.
“By the start of this year, Russia was able to reimport certain key categories of electronics at about pre-war levels,” Jim O’Brien, sanctions coordinator at the U.S. State Department, told POLITICO's Brussels Playbook at an ECFR event in Stockholm, referring to chips, processors and integrated circuits key to making modern weapons.
Sanctions circumvention remains a “substantial problem,” O’Brien said, adding the U.S. has identified issues with five countries in particular: Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia.
