Russia may use microchips from refrigerators, washing machines and even breast pumps imported from third countries in military equipment - Bloomberg

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European exports of household appliances boomed

to neighboring countries of the Russian Federation. And in Europe they are concerned that these household appliances may be taken to Russia to use their components for weapons.

What does it mean?

Previously, US and European officialsThey have repeatedly said that Russia is making up for the shortage of microchips for military equipment with parts from household appliances: refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. Moreover, these components were found in equipment damaged and captured by the Ukrainian military.

A sudden and unexpected surge of EuropeanThe export of washing machines, refrigerators and even electric breast pumps to Russia's neighbors has the EU fearing that the trade boom could help Russia's war machine in Ukraine.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg from the databaseAccording to EU Eurostat data, in the first 8 months of the year Armenia imported more washing machines from the European Union than in the last 2 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 breast pumps from the EU to Armenia almost tripled in the first half of 2022 compared to the previous year, despite a 4.3% decline in the Armenian birth rate. Similarly, Kazakhstan's demand for breast pumps from the EU increased by 633% in the first half of 2022, although the country's birth rate fell by 8.4% over the same period.

According to the Kazakh government, RussianDemand for electric breast pumps from Kazakhstan has more than doubled in the first 8 months of the year compared to the whole of 2021. In 2022, the country also supplied $7.5 million worth of washing machines to Russia, compared with almost zero in the previous two years. Exports of refrigerators to Russia increased 10 times compared to the previous year.

Of course, this may also be due to sanctions, due to which Russia cannot independently receive equipment from Europe.

“Even very complex Russian weapons systemsare often built using run-of-the-mill microelectronic components found in a number of commercial products. It is possible that the Russian military-industrial complex is importing off-the-shelf commercial goods to disassemble them for parts,” said James Byrne, director of open source intelligence and research at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.