Vladimir Putin kills with Swiss technology from Geneva
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Putin terrorizes Ukraine with rocket attacks.
Fabian Eberhardchief research
Darkness, cold, fear: Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin is terrorizing Ukraine with targeted attacks on the energy supply. In many parts of the country, the population is without electricity and heating – with temperatures well below zero.
This is also made possible by Swiss technology in high-tech Kh-101 rockets. You fly with a chip from a Geneva company.
A team of researchers from the precise think tank Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) has suspected that the missiles were being studied in Ukraine – and found microprocessors from STMicroelectronics. The large group with production facilities in Italy, France and Singapore has its headquarters in Plan-les-Ouates in the canton of Geneva.
The projectiles fired from an airplane are seven meters long. They carry half a ton of explosives. Their range: up to 2800 kilometers. Because the Kh-101s fly particularly low, radar systems have trouble spotting them. This makes them one of the most important weapons for the Russians in the war against the neighboring country.
No answer from Geneva
Most recently, Kh-101 saw action on a large scale on November 23, when Moscow blacked out Kiev bombed. Several people died.
Does the Geneva-based company know that its microchips are installed in the Kremlin’s cruise missiles? The group does not answer questions from the SonntagsBlick.
The federal government takes a position on the other hand. Antje Baertschi, spokeswoman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), says: “We are aware of components related to Switzerland that are found in Russian weapon systems in Ukraine.”
Seco does not want to comment on individual manufacturers. Investigations so far have shown that the components are industrial bulk goods that were not subject to any trade restrictions until the beginning of the war at the end of February.
That changes on March 4, when Bern banned the sale of numerous electronic parts to Russia. The measures have been tightened several times. Seco spokeswoman Baertschi: “The goods would now be prohibited for delivery and sale (…) due to the sanctions.”
In addition, since the Geneva company’s microchips are probably also manufactured at production sites abroad, export regulations from other countries also apply to them.
The chip is not the only Swiss component in Putin’s war machine. The Rusi researchers come to the conclusion in their report: “Switzerland is the fourth most important manufacturer of components found in Russian weapon systems.” In addition to the Geneva-based company STMicroelectronics, the British mention the Thalwil-based group U-blox, a former ETH spin-off. As Sunday’s Blick published in June, Moscow’s Orlan drones fly with a GPS module from the company. U-blox argues that it is difficult to see “where something ends up”.
Western electronics are central to Putin’s war. Moscow needs them to make new drones and missiles. Due to the delivery bans, however, he is increasingly lacking in supplies.
Russia needs semiconductors and connectors
The US newspaper “Politico” recently published a confidential list from the administrative apparatus in Moscow, which contains urgently needed components. The sought-after components are primarily semiconductors, transformers, connectors and transistors. Because the Kremlin has relied on Western suppliers in recent years, Russia is unable to manufacture these parts itself.
Swiss products also appear on the list. With “priority two, important”, Russia is looking for connectors from the Schaffhausen company TE Connectivity. They are actually mass-produced – the unit price is less than ten francs. But Moscow urgently needs them. TE Connectivity also did not respond to questions.
After the attacks on November 23, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was optimistic that Russia “won’t be able to rapidly reproduce precision munitions because of trade restrictions on microchips and other items.”
A report by the English research group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) on December 5 now casts doubt on Austin’s testimony. Weapons experts examined debris from Russian Kh-101 missiles that the Kremlin had launched into Ukraine a month ago and found: One of the cruise missiles was made between June and September 2022, another between October and November 2022. Whether Russia removed the It is not known whether the components were still in stock or whether they made it to Russia despite sanctions.
One thing is clear: Putin is continuing his war of attrition. On Friday, Russia launched a new wave of attacks and again paralyzed large parts of the Ukrainian power supply. The consequences: darkness, cold, fear. And bag.