Putin humiliated as technology shortfall from sanctions leave ‘critical projects frozen’ – Express

Before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the country's technology sector relied heavily on Western technology and investment - but sanctions have caused a shortfall of vital foreign parts that are used to create cars, household appliances and electronics.

Most of the world's biggest chip manufacturers including Intel and Samsung have halted business with Russiaoverits invasion of Ukraine.

It came after the UK, US and Europe imposed export controls on products using chips made or designed in the Western countries.

This has created a shortfall of the types of chips that go into creating a range of domestic products including cars, household appliances and military equipment.

Supplies of more advanced semiconductors, which are used to produce electronics and IT hardware, have also been severely cut.

Meanwhile, Western sanctions have also meant Russia's ability to import foreign tech - such as smartphones, has also been drastically curtailed.

Samuel Bendett, an AI and IT expert who specialises in Russian military technology, toldExpress.co.uk: "If these sanctions impact some of the microelectronic manufacturing, which is supposed to make its way into consumer electronic items, then Russian consumers may be impacted already.

"Customers may now not have access to previously available Western technologies and a lot of critical projects have been frozen".

Mr Bendett said Russia found itself "in a bad situation" because prior to the war the country was almost "completely dependent" on Western technologies.

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Now, that a lot of these technologies are no longer available, the sector is struggling to develop new technologies and keep critical projects ongoing.

"Entire supply routes for servers to computers to iPhones - everything - is gone", Financial Times reported a Western chip executive saying.

With the country unable to export much of its raw materials, import critical goods or access global financial markets, some economists predict Russia's gross domestic product will reduce by as much as 15 percent this year.

The sanctions, along with the already significant exodus of IT workers in the country, will likely impact the availability of tech items including certain phones, cars and other products that relied on foreign parts.

Mr Bendett said: "Entities and organisations that built data centres in Russia don't have access to imported technologies.

"Obviously, it has been over four months since the start of the war and many Russian supply chains relied on Western tech before the sanctions".

He added that it may also impact the "Russian efforts to invest in domestic high-tech manufacturing".

The Kremlin is now concentrating a lot of effort and investment into its IT sector to ensure it becomes self-reliant and a lot less dependent on Western hardware.

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Putin humiliated as technology shortfall from sanctions leave 'critical projects frozen' - Express