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The British government has said it will investigate any “credible allegations” its arms embargo on Russia has been breached amid concerns that Moscow’s modern weaponry relies heavily on parts produced in the UK and other western nations.
A Whitehall inquiry is under way, according to The Daily Telegraph, after a report by the Royal United Services Institute think tank highlighted the extent to which the Russian equipment used in Ukraine depends on imports of sophisticated electronics.
Among the examples cited was the Borisoglebsk-2 mobile jamming system, used to disrupt enemy communications, which was found to contain parts made in the UK, US, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
The report’s authors said they examined an onboard computer recovered from the wreckage of an advanced Russian cruise missile, requiring highly specialised material and parts , much of which had come from the US.
They also spoke of the Russian TOR-M2 air-defence system — described as “one of the most potent short-ranged air-defence systems in the world” — which relies on a British-designed oscillator in the computer controlling its radar.
“The pattern is universal,” said the report, by Dr Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds.
“Almost all of Russia’s modern military hardware is dependent upon complex electronics imported from the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Israel, China and further afield.
“In some instances, these components are civilian dual-use electronics that can be procured commercially.
"In many more, however, they are pieces of military or specialised technologies for which there are a small number of regulated suppliers.”
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A woman rescues some of her belongings from her house in Irpin, near Kyiv, which was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing in late March. AP -
A driver helps a woman board a bus at a reception centre for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP -
People fleeing Mariupol's Azovstal plant arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
A woman stands next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, after it was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing. AP -
People hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration in support of Mariupol defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A woman stands near her house that was destroyed by shelling in Sloboda, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
A mother and child in Lviv, Ukraine, wait to board transport destined for Przemysl, Poland. Getty Images -
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claps as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv via videolink. Reuters -
Firefighters work to extinguish flames after a Russian bombardment at a park in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
The television tower is illuminated in the national colors of the Ukrainian flag to show solidarity with the country at the Olympic Park in Munich, southern Germany. AFP -
Flooded gardens and fields are shown in Demydiv, Ukraine. To keep Russian armoured columns at bay, Ukrainian forces released water from a nearby hydroelectric dam to intentionally flood Demydiv, a village north of Kyiv. The decision was effective, but efforts to drain the area are complicated. Getty Images -
A damaged Orthodox icon is seen in the corner of local resident Yurii's heavily damaged house in Fenevychi, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Valentyna, 71, stands by her cat, who was injured in the fighting, in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Yurii, 53, stands in his heavily damaged house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Evacuees from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, which has suffered heavy shelling, ride on a bus in Raihorodok. AFP -
A man delivers loaves of bread to a woman in the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
Nazar, right, boards a bulletproof bus to evacuate with his family from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
A dog chases a hare by the wall of a burnt house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Nine-year-old Galina, right, and Nazar, 8, arrive with their families in Raihorodok. AFP -
Natalia Pototska, 43, cries as her grandson Matviy looks on in Zaporizhzhia. AP -
Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military meets his wife Oksana, who fled from the Russian-occupied Novomykhailivka village, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod to Kyiv. Reuters -
Buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodianka, in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Reuters -
Volunteers carry an elderly woman in a blanket during the evacuation of a frontline village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A Ukrainian man walks past the turret of a Russian tank next to a destroyed petrol station in the village of Skybyn, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Andrii Fedorov hugs his son Makar as they are reunited in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after the boy and his mother fled besieged Mariupol. AP -
Volunteers at the Help Ukraine Center in Lublin, south-eastern Poland. More than 3 million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland. EPA -
Police officers deliver loaves of bread to residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which is being heavily shelled. AFP -
Savelii, 10, mourns at the grave of his father, who died protecting his city as a member of the Territorial Defence, in Irpin, Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian soliders ride on a truck to a resting place after fighting in the front line for two months near Kramatorsk. AFP -
A shopkeeper clears shelves before closing up in Sviatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion. AFP -
Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant as part of an evacuation of Mariupol arrive at temporary accommodation in Bezimenne, Donetsk region. Reuters -
Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, who was part of an evacuation of Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet again in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A pro-Russian troop stands guard in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A picture taken during a visit to Mariupol organised by the Russian military shows Russian serviceman on patrol outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, south-eastern Ukraine. EPA -
A woman is assisted during the UN-led evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, after nearly two months of siege warfare on Mariupol by Russia. Reuters -
Civilians gather for humanitarian aid, distributed by the Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen are seen near a T-80 tank captured from Russian troops in Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier takes a break from the conflict and tries to pet a stork in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP
While Britain has had an arms embargo on Russia in place since President Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, UK-supplied parts might not be in breach of the ban.
Under its terms, the government says it will not license exports where there is a risk that the equipment will be “diverted to an undesirable end-user or for an undesirable end-use”, with decisions made on a case by case basis.
In December, as Russian troops were massing on the Ukrainian border, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan announced the licensing criteria and military end-use controls were being strengthened to ensure they properly addressed the threats facing the country.
But officials acknowledge it is “likely” that some Russian military equipment contains sub-components — some of them legitimate dual military-civilian use items that are not controlled — obtained from western countries, including the UK.
“The UK has one of the most robust and transparent export control regimes in the world, and an immediate arms embargo was imposed on Russia in July 2014 following its illegal annexation of Crimea,” a government spokesman said.
“We take all credible allegations of breaches of export control seriously and we will take further action if appropriate.”
