Western rules and sanctions against Moscow have been clear since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. In principle, any export of a certain number of goods to Russia has become strictly prohibited since the start of the war, ranging from advanced technologies to luxury goods and obviously weapons.
But these sanctions, which are in principle firm, are subject to numerous circumventions, whether in Europe or in the United States. While one of the most crucial for Russia undoubtedly remains the diversion of the embargo on their exports of oil and gas through a ghost fleet, another essential product for Vladimir Putin’s army to pursue his war continues to arrive abundantly in Russia from the United States: the famous semiconductors.
If the latter are crucial for operating an immense number of electronic products, they are also crucial for manufacturing weapons. And for lack of producing them in Russia, according to the American media Bloombergthe Russian military industry would have found “a surprisingly simple way” to continue to obtain supplies directly from the United States. Simple, because the purchasing process is done directly… on the website of American semiconductor companies. And one in particular, with which Bloomberg was able to examine both the orders and the recipients: Texas Instruments. The company, among the ten largest semiconductor producers in the world, has the particular advantage of selling products in large volumes, and at much lower prices than its competition.
Third countries and shell companies
Russian distributors managed to gain access to the inventory and price database of the Texas Instruments online store. Their customers in Russia can therefore place orders directly with these intermediaries for their semiconductor needs. The components will be transported through third countries and front companies – notably in Hong Kong – before being delivered directly to Russia. And this, with a nice increase of 40% on the original prices of the products, representing the expenses of the entire delivery and payment process, but also the added value realized by these distributors.
Bloomberg takes in particular the example of a Russian distributor who processed from January to August 2024 nearly 4,000 orders for hundreds of thousands of IT products, for a value of nearly 6 million dollars – including 4 million dollars for Russian military companies. Because semiconductors can have a very wide use: they contribute to the production of drones, glide bombs, sophisticated communication systems, and even short-medium range Iskander missiles, which Moscow uses to shell cities in Ukraine .
14% of components from Texas Industries
For its part, Texas Instruments defended itself against any laxity, and recalled that it “firmly opposes the use of its chips in Russian military equipment. If the company denies providing Russian distributors with its database providing information the availability of its products, in particular by blocking access to its website for any internet connection originating from Russia, the latter in reality manage to avoid these restrictions quite easily through VPNs or other circumventions.
During the US Senate hearing last September of four of the largest American semiconductor manufacturers – AMD, Analog Devices, Intel and Texas Instruments – Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal lashed out against the sector, saying that -it “objectively and consciously failed to prevent Russia from benefiting from the use of their technology.” Of these four, TI had been particularly targeted for “lax controls” on the recipients of its online sales.
Their process for blocking potentially illicit buyers is notably much less efficient than their competitors, says Bloomberg. Thus, the buyer does not have to inform the final recipient of the products purchased when ordering, unlike the majority of other semiconductor manufacturers. Enough to greatly facilitate the sale of components that can then be used by the Russian military industry: still according to the American media, the company Texas Instruments alone represents nearly 14% of the electronic components recovered by the Ukrainian authorities after strikes. in their country.
An observation that necessarily weighs on Ukraine, where the Russian army has continued its territorial progression in recent months. “Governments and companies have done a lot, but it is not enough. We would like our partners to be firmer,” insisted Bloomberg Vladyslav Vlasiuk, adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky on sanctions against Russia. Because imposing firm restrictions against Moscow is one thing; ensuring they are respected is another. And on this last point, there is still a long way to go.