Putin kills with Swiss technology

Darkness, cold, fear: Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is terrorizing Ukraine with targeted attacks on energy supplies. 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 missiles. You fly with a chip from a Geneva company.

A team of researchers from the British think tank Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) examined the remains of the missiles in Ukraine – and found STMicroelectronics microprocessors. The large group with production sites in Italy, France and Singapore has its headquarters in Plan-les-Ouates in the canton of Geneva.

The projectiles fired from an aircraft are seven meters long. They’re carrying half a ton of explosives. Their range: up to 2800 kilometers. Because the Kh-101s fly very low, radar systems have a hard time 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-101s saw widespread deployment on November 23, when Moscow blacked out the bombing of Kiev. Several people died.

Does the Geneva-based company know its microchips are installed in the Kremlin’s cruise missiles? The group did not answer any questions from the Sunday view.

The federal government, on the other hand, is taking a stand. Antje Baertschi, spokeswoman for the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (Seco), says: “We are aware of Swiss-related components found in Russian weapons systems in Ukraine.”

Seco declined to comment on individual manufacturers. Research to date has shown that the components are bulk industrial goods that were not subject to trade restrictions until the outbreak of war at the end of February.

That changed on March 4, when Bern banned the sale of numerous electronic components to Russia. The measures have been tightened several times. Seco spokeswoman Baertschi: “Because of the sanctions, the goods would now be prohibited for supply and sale (…).”

Moreover, since the microchips of the Geneva company are probably also manufactured at production sites abroad, they are subject to export regulations from other countries.

The chip is not the only Swiss component in Putin’s war machine. The Rusi researchers conclude 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 Blick revealed in June, Moscow’s Orlan drones fly with a GPS module from the company. U-blox states that it’s hard to see “where something will end up”.

Western electronics are at the center of Putin’s war. Moscow needs them to make new drones and missiles. However, due to the delivery bans, he is increasingly short of supplies.

Russia needs semiconductors and connectors

The American newspaper “Politico” recently published a confidential list of the administrative apparatus in Moscow, which contains urgently needed parts. The sought-after components are mainly semiconductors, transformers, connectors and transistors. Because the Kremlin has depended on Western suppliers in recent years, Russia is unable to manufacture these parts itself.

Swiss products are also 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 November 23 attacks, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was optimistic that Russia would be “unable to quickly reproduce precision munitions due to trade restrictions on microchips and other items”.

A December 5 report by the English research group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) now casts doubt on Austin’s testimony. The weapons experts examined the debris of Russian Kh-101 missiles the Kremlin fired into Ukraine a month ago and found that one of the cruise missiles was manufactured between June and September 2022, another between October and November 2022. it is not known whether the parts were still in stock or whether they arrived in Russia despite sanctions.

One thing is clear: Putin continues his war of attrition. Russia launched a new wave of attacks on Friday, once again paralyzing large parts of Ukraine’s power supply. The consequences: darkness, cold, fear. And dead.