Supplies of microchips and important electronic components to Russia, which the West has tried to ban with sanctions, have already returned to the level that existed before the start of the special Russian military operation in Ukraine, and Russia is being helped in this by a number of countries, including the post-Soviet ones. This was stated by Jim O’Brien, sanctions coordinator at the US Department of State, Politico wrote.

O’Brien said European companies are selling to other countries, which in turn resell the materials to Russia. It is about microchips, processors, and integrated circuits key to making modern weapons.

O’Brien said the US has identified five countries in particular that are carrying out the main re-export flows: NATO member Turkey, as well as Kazakhstan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, and Armenia.

Politico noted that Russia is improving its capabilities to resist Western sanctions.

The paper noted that the “EU countries are working on the 11th sanctions package against Russia, which would focus on anti-circumvention of the existing sanctions and include a new mechanism to potentially punish countries outside of the EU that enable sanction evasion.”