OREANDA-NEWS. Potential sanctions due to the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine will make it impossible to buy equipment from foreign manufacturers, and will also make it very difficult for Russian companies to produce it. The Ministry of Industry and Trade said this in January during a discussion with computer hardware market players about possible sanctions threatened to be imposed on Russia by the US authorities in case of an invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, on January 20, Reuters reported, citing sources, that the US had warned US chipmakers that if Russia invades Ukraine, the White House could ban exports of their products as well as extend to Russia the so-called direct foreign production rule, which was previously applied against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The latter measure could allow President Joe Biden's administration to stop shipments of chips, computers, consumer electronics, telecommunications equipment and other products made anywhere in the world if American technology was used in the process.

On Tuesday, 25 January, a senior US administration official told a press briefing that they were preparing new export controls that, if Russia invaded Ukraine, would "prohibit the supply of anything that Russia needs and cannot easily replace elsewhere". In particular, he said he intended to ban exports of sophisticated technology developed and manufactured in the United States, as well as potentially some foreign-made goods, to damage areas important to Russian President Vladimir Putin: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, defence, aerospace, lasers and sensors, maritime technology and others. In the supply chains of each of these areas, he said, the U.S. or its allies and partners are the developers or producers of the technology.

Ivan Pokrovsky, executive director of the Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE), believes that it is impossible to completely cut off the supply of common application components because the supply chains are distributed all over the world, with many warehouses available in different countries. However, the consequences of new sanctions could be a complication of component supplies and, consequently, an increase in their cost.