Photo by Imad Alassiry on Unsplash
Sanctions against the Russian military-industrial complex and a ban on imports of Russian raw materials will weaken Putin’s war machine
Russian defence companies not hit by sanctions are importing goods from EU countries for the war against Ukraine. Among these purchases are rifles and body armour for soldiers, machine tools for missiles, and microchips for GLONASS, which are used to set target coordinates for Iranian drones striking residential buildings in Ukraine. Other imports include fuses for surface-to-air and multiple-launch rocket systems, night-vision devices, inflatable tanks and engines for warships. Russia uses these categories of military goods to equip its soldiers, produce weapons, continue the war, kill Ukrainians and also destabilise Europe.
The Russian Roskosmos corporation, taking advantage of the complete absence of sanctions from the West, has found itself in the lane of a full-scale war against Ukraine, importing the component base for the production of Russian tanks and missiles. Russia’s predominantly resource-based economy (which provides almost 50% of the budget) is still fuelled by the export of oil, gas, metals, and precious stones. The EU has largely abandoned gas imports from Russia: contrary to the exhortations of Kremlin propagandists, this has not led Europe to disaster; indeed, as of May 2023, natural gas prices in the EU are the lowest in 2 years. This destroys the myth popularised by the Russians about the imaginary benefits of energy cooperation with Russia, which in reality never existed. Western countries are therefore consistently reducing the share of Russian imports of energy, metals, and diamonds. In particular, the UK has already banned imports of diamonds, nickel, copper and aluminium from Russia.
Putin designed the aggression against Ukraine as a prologue to the largest post-1945 war to which the West was to be a victim. In Putin’s Russia, there is not a single influential company or corporation that has nothing to do with the continuation of the war. All foreign currency revenues in the Russian budget are used to strengthen the Russian military machine. This war could lead humanity to catastrophe if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine. Apart from supplying the necessary weapons to the AFU, maximum sanctions must be imposed on Russia with an embargo on imports of raw materials from Russia. The Russian economy must be drained by sanctions: this is an important factor in weakening Russia’s army, which threatens Europe.
