Spare parts for dishwashers or refrigerators to repair tanks: according to a survey of BloombergRussia would have made the most basic equipment its tanks to reconstitute its weapons destroyed since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine.
Index of this surprising strategy: unusual flows of imports from Europe in the countries bordering Russia, suspected of supporting it in its war effort.
Armenia has thus discovered a passion for European washing machines, to the point of buying as many in the last eight months as in the previous two years. Kazakhstan, for its part, saw its imports of breast pumps increase by 633% in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Without its needs justifying it: the birth rate plummeted by 8, 4% in a year.
Eurasian Economic Union
At the same time, Russia’s imports from Kazakhstan are increasing: it has collected $7.5 million worth of washing machines, while Astana has not sent any such products to it for the past two years. Russian demand for breast pumps in the country has also tripled.
Russia’s neighboring countries are likely to take advantage of Western sanctions to sell more than usual. Both Armenia and Kazakhstan are not targeted by the European Union and belong to the Eurasian Economic Union, allowing them to trade free of charge through a customs union and common market. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are among them; Tajikistan is a candidate, when Moscow would see itself integrating Moldova.
Russia’s use of this equipment is also not really in doubt: Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, already claimed a month ago that the dishwasher parts were for military purposes. In Ukraine, many observers have confirmed the systematic theft of this type of equipment by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Semiconductor shortage
Main interest of household appliances: the chips they contain. Its semiconductors are made in just a handful of countries – including Taiwan and the United States – and US exports of such products fell sharply with the invasion of Ukraine, by around 70% since the first weeks of the conflict.
Microchips are used in the manufacture of all weapons, due to their pervasiveness in electronic circuitry. In August, a study showed that of the 27 Russian defense systems used in Ukraine, the vast majority of the 450 electronic components found were American or European-made. China, for its part, remains very reluctant to supply these expensive materials, whose production is under heavy pressure due to strong world demand.
Still, to prevent sanctions circumvention, the European Union believes it can monitor the flows by recovering remnants of Russian weapons and identifying parts of consumer goods. But it will have a hard time responding with sanctions, despite having recently acquired the legal means to sanction a state that helps Russia.
Source: BFM TV
