Russia is losing time and money: how sanctions complicate the process of weapons production, an analyst explained

Sanctions. Photo: gettyimages.com

The United States has imposed new sanctions against about 300 individuals and legal entities. More than 200 entities were authorized by the US Treasury and another 80 by the State Department. Most of these entities are Russian, and about 60 concern third countries. Yulia Pavitskaya, an analyst at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), spoke about this on the FREEDOM TV channel.

“These sanctions directly affect Russian companies that serve the military-industrial complex, develop chemical weapons, and the like. As well as companies that are under the jurisdiction of third countries, in respect of which it has been proven that they help Russia circumvent sanctions for the production of weapons. We welcome that the United States of America is actively working not only with respect to the Russian Federation, but also with third countries,” she said.

Pavitskaya said that the adopted package of sanctions comes into effect immediately after it is signed and published. And the United States will hold accountable market players who continue to help Russia purchase necessary elements for the military-industrial complex.

Russia’s reaction to any restrictions is to search for new ways to circumvent them. For example, the creation of new subsidiaries, a new chain of companies, including abroad, through which components for the production of weapons will be supplied. As such firms are identified, new sanctions packages will be adopted.

“Russia has to build a new chain of companies through which they can obtain the necessary goods that they received through a company that was on the sanctions list. And this takes time. On the other hand, the more intermediaries and new companies Russia involves in this chain, the more expensive these goods are for Russia – especially the components that are needed for the military-industrial complex. Russia often overpays many times over for these goods, since in the process of obtaining them a large number of intermediaries appear who add their cost to the price for the risk of being sanctioned. That is, Russia is losing time and money,” the expert explained.

She emphasized that it is not worth considering the effect of individual packages of restrictions, since the effect of sanctions is assessed precisely in their totality – new sanctions strengthen the effect of previous ones.

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Let us remind you that the United States announced new sanctions against about 300 individuals and legal entities. Among them: a Russian airline, machine tool suppliers, firms involved in the procurement of parts for Russian drones, and enterprises in the mining sector. Companies from China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Slovakia and Azerbaijan were subject to restrictions for assisting Moscow in circumventing sanctions.