Russia receives missile parts from the UK

Exports of goods from Britain, including components and parts for missiles and drones, to russia's neighboring countries have increased by hundreds of percent since the beginning of 2022, following russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, writes Sky News economics and data editor Ed Conway.

"Until 2022, British companies were sending quite a lot of goods to russia, worth about £3 billion a year. All this was to end after February 2022... Politicians and wealthy businessmen were put on a sanctions list, Russian foreign bonds were frozen, and exports of thousands of categories of goods to russia were banned... These initial sanctions were largely intended to starve Vladimir Putin's military machine by depriving it of funding and components needed to produce weapons, drones, radar equipment, etc.", the author writes.

However, it is noted that goods from Britain continue to flow to russia, although not directly, but from neighboring countries:

"Enterprising Ukrainians have been methodically analyzing the components of russian weapons. What they found was striking: thousands of components produced in Western countries, including the UK, long after the war began... The figures I pulled from the Tax and Customs Service database were some of the most impressive I've seen in all my years as a journalist. They showed that our exports to the former Soviet states had grown to an unprecedented level - by thousands of percent... The deeper I dug into the data, the more alarming it became."

For example, it is indicated that exports of components used in Russian military systems to Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan have increased by more than 500% since the beginning of 2022.

"Millions of pounds worth of drone and helicopter parts, air navigation equipment and advanced optics - the very goods we shouldn't be sending anywhere near russia - have all been shipped from British factories to countries bordering russia," the editor noted.

According to him, the British government says it is "doing everything it can to stop these flows, but it seems to be fighting a losing battle, money always seems to win."

Source: The Sunday Times