Russia Finds Ways to Circumvent EU Tech Sanctions

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

Even though the EU has targeted Russia with 10 rounds of sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow appears to be finding ways to secure crucial semiconductors and other technologies. Russian imports in general have largely returned to pre-war 2020 levels and we’re told that analysis of trade data suggests that advanced chips and integrated circuits made in the EU and other allied nations are being shipped to Russia through third countries such as Turkey, the UAE and Kazakhstan. Shipments from China to Russia have also surged. The data imply that the real impact in some areas is falling short of what officials had hoped for.