Russia now produces more munitions than the United States and Europe combined - NYT

Russia has managed to increase its missile production to the point where it has exceeded pre-war levels, despite Western sanctions and export controls.

Source. This was reported by The New York Times, citing officials from the United States, Europe and Ukraine.

According to U.S. officials, the production of missiles and other weapons in Russia slowed down sharply at the beginning of the invasion for at least six months due to sanctions. However, by the end of 2022, military-industrial production began to pick up again, sources interviewed by the newspaper admit.

moscow is circumventing american export controls by organizing networks to supply key weapons components to other countries from which they can be more easily delivered to russia. Less than a year after the invasion began, Russia has resumed trading in critical parts through shipments to countries such as Armenia and Turkey.

According to a senior defense official in a Western country, before the war Russia could produce 100 tanks a year; now it produces 200.

Western officials also believe that Russia has reached the level of producing 2 million artillery shells a year, twice as many as Western intelligence agencies had predicted.

As a result, Russia now produces more ammunition than the United States and Europe.

In general, according to Kusti Salma, a senior official at the Estonian Ministry of Defense, the current rate of ammunition production in Russia is seven times higher than in the West.

Production costs in Russia are also much lower than in the West, in part because Moscow sacrifices safety and quality when creating weapons and ammunition. For example, the production of a 155mm artillery shell costs a Western country an average of $5000-6000, while the production of a comparable 152mm artillery shell costs Russia about $600.

Sanctions are easy for Russia to circumvent. The chips needed to make several hundred cruise missiles can fit into a few backpacks, making it relatively easy to circumvent sanctions, says Dmitry Alperovich, a security expert and founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank.

U.S. officials, in turn, told the New York Times that the West can slow down, but not stop, Russia's smuggling of parts needed to make missiles. They note that it would be unrealistic to expect that Moscow will not seek ways to circumvent restrictions.

Background. Russia has been reported to be adapting to the sanctions and circumventing them by importing weapons into the country. moscow is using little-known Turkish, Greek and Indian shipping companies.