NYT: US technology, a longtime tool for Russia, becomes vulnerability: Why this is important. In USSR, theft of technology by KGB was lifeline. S.O.S.

As of the 1980s, the big bugbear was in that the KGB under line X of the KGB stole whatever technology needed to upgrade weapon systems was required. i.e. Line X was a section of the KGB First Chief Directorate residency organization assigned to acquire Western technology for the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (Directorate "T").

Here is evidence that this little propensity has never left us.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-30-mn-3514-story.html

AND

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Sword_and_the_Shield/9TWUAQ7Xof8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=LINE+X+OF+THE+KGB+AFTER+1990&pg=PA435&printsec=frontcover

TO keep it simple, line X never died, and the result is that critical parts of Russian equipment are heavily dependent upon shipments of US technology to keep them up and running to full capacity. See the below:

https://caliber.az/en/post/84570/

quote

NYT: US technology, a longtime tool for Russia, becomes a vulnerability

• WORLD?- 03 June 2022 - 11:12
• Global restrictions on sending advanced technology to Russia are hampering the country’s military capacity, U.S. officials say, though Russia has stockpiled American equipment for years.
• Over a week’s visit to Ukraine last month, the investigators pulled apart every piece of advanced Russian hardware they could get their hands on, such as small laser range finders and guidance sections of cruise missiles,?The New York Times?reports.
• The researchers, who were invited by the Ukrainian security service to independently analyse advanced Russian gear, found that almost all of it included parts from companies based in the United States and the European Union: microchips, circuit boards, engines, antenna and other equipment.
• “Advanced Russian weapons and communications systems have been built around Western chips,” said Damien Spleeters, one of the investigators with Conflict Armament Research, which identifies and tracks weapons and ammunition. He added that Russian companies had enjoyed access to an “unabated supply” of Western technology for decades.
• U.S. officials have long been proud of their country’s ability to supply technology and munitions to the rest of the world. But since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the United States has faced an unfortunate reality: The tools that Russian forces are using to wage war are often powered by American innovation.
• Still, while the technology made by American and European companies has been turned against Ukraine, the situation has also given the United States and its allies an important source of leverage against Russia. The United States and dozens of countries have used export bans to cut off shipments of advanced technology, hobbling Russia’s ability to produce weapons to replace those that have been destroyed in the war, according to American and European officials.
• On Thursday, the Biden administration announced further sanctions and restrictions on Russia and Belarus, adding 71 organizations to a government list that prevents them from buying advanced technology. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against a yacht-management company that caters to Russian oligarchs.
• U.S. exports to Russia in the categories are down by over 90 percent since February 24.
• The restrictions halt direct technological exports from the United States and dozens of partner nations to Russia. But they also go beyond traditional wartime sanctions issued by the U.S. government by placing limitations on certain high-tech goods that are manufactured anywhere in the world using American machinery, software or blueprints. That means countries that are not in the sanctions' coalition with the United States and Europe must also follow the rules or potentially face their own sanctions.
• The restrictions have rendered the old-school bombing runs on tank factories and shipyards of past wars unnecessary, Mr. Klein wrote. “The democracies can replicate the effect of well-targeted bombing runs with the right set of sanctions, precisely because the Russian military depends on imported equipment.”
• Russia is one of the world’s largest arms exporters, especially to India, but its industry relies heavily on imported inputs. In 2018, Russian sources satisfied only about half of the military-related equipment and services the country needed, such as transportation equipment, computers, optical equipment, machinery and fabricated metal, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development compiled by Mr. Klein.
• The remainder of equipment and services used by Russia were imported, with about a third coming from the United States, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and other partner governments that imposed sanctions together on Moscow.
• U.S. officials say that in concert with a wide variety of other sanctions that ban or discourage commercial relations, the export controls have been highly effective. They have pointed to Russian tank factories that have furloughed workers and struggled with shortages of parts. The U.S. government has also received reports that the Russian military is scrambling to find parts for satellites, avionics and night vision goggles, officials say.

End of quote

FTR

As of the 1980s, the big bugbear was in that the KGB under line X of the KGB stole whatever technology needed to upgrade weapon systems was required. i.e. Line X was a section of the KGB First Chief Directorate residency organization assigned to acquire Western technology for the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (Directorate "T").

Here is evidence that this little propensity has never left us. In terms of Russian behavior today.

Concluding

This dependence upon western tech is getting in the way of precision warfare in Donbass, as to why the Russians are now using low technology artillery, dumb bombs (no targeting aids) as well as use of brute force intimidation of Russian military assets, for at times almost 21st century version of Soviet human wave tactics.

In a word, the Ukrainian request for artillery up to 50 kilometers reach, in lieu of this degradation of Russian warfighting in Donbass is a two edged sword. As it is, the degraded version of warfighting done in Donbass by Russian military units is incredibly destructive of human life, but if the front lines for delivering of such ordinance are pinpointed most of the damage will begin to be accrued by the Russian military which already is reeling after 30 thousand Combat deaths in 10 weeks of war.

In itself not enough to spark a revolution, but likely as what happened in the incredibly wasteful 1916 Russian Tsarist offensive in Galicia in the Carpathian mountains, so destructive a use of soldiers in the end is likely to turn the Russian Military against the Kremlin. We do though need to factor all of this in and to understand how high tech shortages in equipment will influence the Russian military in Ukraine, in 2022,and we need to be ready for it.

Andrew Beckwith, PhD