Western sanctions have reduced Russia's purchases of weapons components by only 10%

A study by the Kyiv Institute of Economics and the Yermak-McFaul Expert Group (named after the founders of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak, and former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul — ed.) has shown that sanctions have reduced Russia's purchases of weapons components from Western countries by only 10%.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writes about this with reference to the study.

The researchers found that in January-October 2023, Russian imports of military goods reached almost $9 billion, which is only 10% less than before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Almost half of Russia's imports in the first ten months of 2023 consisted of goods produced by Western companies.

At the same time, Russia has increased its drone and aircraft production capacity.

Most goods enter Russia through third countries, mainly China, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates.

Western sanctions have affected nearly 2,800 components found in the remains of Russian missiles, drones, and equipment on the battlefield in Ukraine.

According to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, 72 % of the detected Russian weapons components were made in the USA, 6 % in Switzerland, 5% — in Japan, 4% — in China, and between 1% and 3% — in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Taiwan, etc.