Russia can use microchips in military equipment from refrigerators, washing machines and even milk suckers imported from third countries - Bloomberg

After russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there has been a boom in European exports of appliances to russia's neighboring countries. And Europe is concerned that these appliances could be brought into russia to use their components for weapons.

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Previously, U.S. and European officials have repeatedly said that Russia is making up for the lack of microchips for military equipment with parts from household appliances: refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers, etc. Moreover, these components were found in equipment that had been hit and seized by the Ukrainian military.

The sudden and unexpected surge in European exports of washing machines, refrigerators and even electric breast pumps to russia's neighbors is causing the eU to fear that the trade boom could help russia's war machine in Ukraine.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg from the EU's Eurostat database, Armenia imported more washing machines from the European Union in the first eight months of the year than in the past two years combined. In August, Kazakhstan imported $21.4 million worth of European refrigerators, more than three times the amount for the same period last year. Exports of electric milk pumps from the EU to Armenia nearly tripled in the first half of 2022 compared to the previous year, despite a 4.3% drop in Armenia's birth rate. Similarly, Kazakhstan's demand for breast pumps from the EU increased by 633% in the first half of 2022, even though the country's birth rate fell by 8.4% over the same period.

According to the Kazakh government, Russian demand for electric milk pumps from Kazakhstan more than doubled in the first 8 months of the year compared to all of 2021. The country also supplied washing machines to Russia for $7.5 million in 2022 - up from almost zero in the previous two years. Exports of refrigerators to Russia increased 10 times over the previous year.

Of course, this may also be due to sanctions, because of which Russia cannot get appliances from Europe on its own.

"Even highly sophisticated Russian weapons systems are often built with run of the mill microelectronic components found in a range of commercial goods. It’s entirely possible that Russia’s military industrial complex is importing commercial off-the shelf goods to cannibalize for parts"," said James Byrne, director of open-source intelligence and analytical research at the Royal United Armaments Institute, a British think tank.

Source: Bloomberg