Mounting evidence suggests Russia is continuing to obtain U.S. microchips and other advanced Western technologies for use in its military equipment.
Such technologies are typically used to power our smartphones and laptops. But as so-called dual-use items, they have both civilian and military applications, and can therefore be repurposed into a range of items from drones to missiles and armored vehicles.
Indeed, one recent analysis of 58 Russian military equipment recovered from battlefields in Ukraine found more than a thousand foreign components – primarily Western semiconductors.
That's despite Western sanctions aimed at stifling Russia's war. But convoluted trade routes through intermediaries in countries such as China, Turkey the United Arab Emirates, mean that these essential technologies are still entering Russia, adding to Moscow's pre-war stockpile of raw materials.
Watch the video above as CNBC investigates the murky trade routes fueling Russia's war.
