On 16 January 2025, NAKO Executive Director Olena Tregub and NAKO Senior Researcher Viktoriia Vyshnivska gave a report entitled "From Factories to the Frontline: How Western Technologies Still Power the Russian Military Machine". They spoke during a workshop at the Sanctions Compliance Conference in The Hague.
Some 140 participants attended the workshop — representatives of Dutch microelectronics manufacturers, experts and researchers.
NAKO representatives spoke about microelectronics made by Dutch companies that have been found in Russian weapons. According to them, microprocessors made by the Dutch company NXP Semiconductors are most often identified. NAKO experts have also found Dutch components in the Kh-101 missile, the Msta-S self-propelled howitzer, the Iranian Mohajer-6 UAV, Russian fighter jets and the North Korean KN-23/24 missile. More details on these and other topics can be found in the NAKO reports:
- Enabling War Crimes? Western-Made Components in Russia's War Against Ukraine
- Terror in the Details: Western-made Components in Russia's Shahed-136 Attacks
- Globalization, Weaponized: Foreign Components in Weapons and Equipment Used by the Russian Army
- Wings of War: Analysing the Western Parts in Russian Fighter Jets
- Analysis of the North Korean KN-23/24 missile
At the same time, experts have noted that Chinese companies can counterfeit microelectronics of popular Western brands, making it challenging to identify the exact origin of components.
.png "NAKO experts report on Dutch microelectronics in Russian weapons at the Hague conference 2")
In conclusion, NAKO representatives stressed that while it is impossible to stop the flow of Western components to Russia completely, these processes can be complicated. Manufacturers should monitor the movement of their products more closely and conduct regular audits and inspections of their business partners. Governments should criminalise the facilitation of sanctions evasion, as the United States has done, impose secondary sanctions on intermediary countries, and review export control systems.
According to Olena Tregub, this is the first conference during the full-scale war to focus exclusively on partner countries' sanctions policies. "The main thing I saw at this conference is that a whole system of professional people, institutions and departments in ministries is being developed to ensure that Russia, Iran and North Korea do not evade sanctions," she said.
.png "NAKO experts report on Dutch microelectronics in Russian weapons at the Hague conference 3")
As part of the conference, NAKO also organised an exhibition of fragments of Russian missiles and drones with Western components. "The Americans and Europeans saw with their own eyes that in the third year of the full-scale invasion, Western technologies are being incorporated into Russian weapons. This is very important and emotional for them because it makes them realise that their work is a matter of life and death," said NAKO Executive Director.
We would like to thank the Embassy of Ukraine in the Kingdom of the Netherlands for helping to organise the trip and the exhibition.