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FBI investigates US-made chips in Russian tanks – media — Analysis

Sources told The Washington Post that agents visited American technology firms to ask questions.

According to the Washington Post, Wednesday’s report by The FBI and US Department of Commerce revealed that computer chips made in America were found in Ukrainian military equipment.

Agents from the government have visited companies to inquire about their components and how they got into Russian drones, radars, tanks and ground control systems. “people familiar with the matter”The paper was read.

“Our goal is to actually try to track that back, all the way back to the US supplier”Figure out “how did it find its way into that weapons system,”According to one Commerce Department representative.

“Just because a chip, a company’s chip, is found in a weapon system doesn’t mean we’ve opened up an investigation on that company. What we’ve done, though, is we’ve opened up an investigation on how that company’s chip got into that system,”Unnamed officials explained.

Global chip shortage expected to worsen

The Washington Post was told by a lawyer representing one of these businesses that investigators have begun to look into the matter. “wide net,” asking if the tech companies sold their products to a specific list of firms, including middlemen that may have been involved in the supply chain.

Following the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, the US and many of its allies banned the sale of computer chips to Russian defense firms and placed restrictions on deliveries to other buyers from the country.

The move further tightened the curbs that had been introduced in 2014, following Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

Basic chips were sold to Russian buyers before the conflict. However, exporters of more complex products had to obtain a license from the US government.

This federal investigation follows reports from NGOs in the US and UK that claimed that computer chips made in America were found in Russian military hardware.

Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a group representing the Conflict Armament Research, claimed that its investigators found parts from 70 US-based and European companies in Russian equipment. While some of the chips are believed to have been manufactured prior to 2014, others may be older, possibly dating back as far as 2020.

Ban on tech sales to Russia could spark global microchip war – expert

The Royal United Services Institute published a report that showed products made by firms like Intel, Analog Devices Texas Instruments, Onsemi and Texas Instruments were used by Russia’s military and other nations.

Russia attacked Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. French and German-brokered protocols were intended to grant the regions that broke away special status in the Ukrainian state.

Since then, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine declare itself neutral and vow to never join NATO’s military bloc. Kiev claims that the Russian invasion was unprovoked. It also denies any plans to take the republics with force.

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