New Report Links Western-Made Components to the Weapons Used in Russia’s Suspected Ukraine War Crimes

A  new  report,  released  by  the  International  Partnership  for  Human  Rights  and  the Independent  Anti-Corruption  Commission (NAKO),  has  found  that  western-made  dual-use components  have  continued  to  reach  Russia  long  after  its  full-scale  invasion  of Ukraine,  and  that  western-made  components  have  been  and  continue  to  be  used within  weapons  involved  in  Russian  suspected  war  crimes.  The  report explores multiple suspected war crimes that have been committed by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, with each of them believed to have been carried out using a weapon or weapons containing western-made components.
The revelation that western-made components continue to reach Russia long after the invasion  raises  moral  and  ethical  concerns  for  the  companies  involved  as  well  as questions  about  their  due  diligence  and  risk  assessment  processes.  Trade  data revealed  that  three  western  technology  companies  –  two  of  which  make  dual-use components being sought by Russia to manufacture and repair its military equipment, and  one  of  which  makes  a  variety  of  a  specific  component  needed  by  the  Russian military  –  continue  to  export  thousands  of  components  worth  millions  of  dollars  to Russia  as  recently  as  in  November  2022.  Trade  data  shows  that  components manufactured  by  Harting,  Trimble,  and  TE  Connectivity  continue  to  be  imported  by Russia, either through official distributors for the companies, or third countries such as Hong Kong and Turkey.
The data discovered and analyzed by NAKO as part of this report, indicates that the Russian Kalibr cruise missile includes components produced by 11 foreign companies, including 9 American ones, as well as Swiss and Taiwanese ones. This and other selected case studies with the detailed analysis will be made public in the coming weeks as part of the NAKO's report on Western components in Russia's weapons and military equipment.
Among the suspected war crimes examined are Russian strikes on residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, and power plants, leaving hundreds of civilians killed and wounded and millions of people without heat and water. 
The report concludes that four key Russian weapons  and weapon systems  used to carry out suspected war crimes are,  to varying degrees, reliant upon western-made components. It also concludes that existing regulations and enforcements aiming to cut Russia’s access to western dual-use technology are not sufficient, evidenced by the  fact  that  exports  to  Russia  from  companies  making  components  sought  by  the Kremlin continue

• Recognise and publicly acknowledge the existence of the problem
• Carry out a thorough and holistic review of existing sanction and export control measures
• Enhance due diligence, ‘know your customer’, and end-user surveillance

• The suspected war crime case studies were drawn from an extensive dataset of incidents recorded by IPHR since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 
• Each  case  study  was  categorised based  on  the  type  of  suspected  breach of international humanitarian law, with accompanying footage and other evidence geolocated, verified, and archived.
• The  authors  of  the  report  are  not  imputing  legal  wrongdoing  on  the  part  of companies  named  throughout.  An  assessment  of  any  legal  consequence  to having manufactured a component used inside a Russian weapon as part of a suspected war crime, or of continuing to export to Russia, is outside the scope of the report. The report is released for the sole purpose of highlighting moral and  ethical  concerns,  encouraging  further  discussion,  and  calling  for  better business due diligence and risk assessment.