As a result of Western sanctions, Moscow must now rely on its partners to get things that were previously within its reach. Following the delivery of arms by Pyongyang, the Chinese supply route for semiconductors and fundamental technology is now beginning to emerge.
It is common knowledge that Russia has underestimated the length of time the conflict in Ukraine would last when it first invaded the country. What Moscow insists on dubbing a “special military operation” planned to arrive in Kiev in a few days without a significant use of weapons, but most importantly by means of the threat of employing heavy artillery. This was accomplished. Because of the drawn-out nature of the conflict and the sanctions imposed by the West, the Kremlin has been compelled to use all of the technical resources at its disposal and maximize the effectiveness of its military arsenals. A set of circumstances that compelled Moscow to seek assistance from two governments that are allies of its, namely North Korea and China, in order to acquire more weapons and microchips.
The news that Russia has acquired weaponry from the government in Pyongyang has now spread all across the globe, according to an exclusive report in the New York Times. The American head is led to believe that Russia is in reality purchasing millions of rounds of ammunition for artillery and rockets from North Korea. To make known the Russian military spending towards the Asian state that is isolated from the international community are sources of American intelligence who, according to the New York Times, testify that “global sanctions have severely limited the supply chains” of the Russian army “and forced Moscow to turn to pariah states for military supplies”
The online newspaper Politico in the United States has instead come into possession of another document that would prove the Russian Federation’s difficulties in finding the fundamental technologies to continue the war, beginning with microchips. The newspaper in the United States has published a sort of “shopping list” of products that Moscow is struggling to buy. The list includes semiconductors, transformers, connectors, transistors, and other components, the majority of which are manufactured by companies in the United States.
China, a longstanding friend of Moscow but also the primary trade partner of numerous Western powers, has come under suspicion as the nation that is providing Russia with the technical raw materials essential to run the rocket launch systems or fighter planes.
Controls on the chip market are nearly impossible, according to Matthew Turpin, who served as the director of the United States National Security Council for China from 2018 to 2019. “China and Russia share a 4,300-kilometer-long border. There is absolutely no way to detect whether those chips are being passed from China to Russia,” the senior official from the United States added.
However, the Chinese government has stated on multiple occasions that it will not place limits on its trade relations with Russia in the context of the war, and several observers have pointed out that there is hardly any way for Western governments to ensure that Beijing does not provide Moscow with security. For the time being, the US government has stated that it has no evidence that Beijing is supplying warfare or core technology to Moscow.