The Russian microchip manufacturing company AO PKK Milandr continued to supply microchips to the Russian armed forces for several months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, despite the company director publicly denying any connection with the Russian army.
This was reported by Voice of America.
In an official letter dated February 10, 2023, received by the English-language service of "Voice of America," there is a request for the sale of 4080 military-grade microchips to the Russian army.
"The request for sale came from the deputy chief of the 546th military representative office of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the commercial director of the Russian manufacturer NVO 'Poisk' to the general director of Milandr S.V. Tarasenko with delivery by April 2023, that is, when the major war had been going on for over a year," the report said.
It is noted that the letter includes an instruction from Milandr to provide three types of microchip components to NVO Poisk, a well-known Russian defense manufacturer that produces detonators for weapons used in the Russian Armed Forces.
In addition to the general director of Milandr Tarasenko, the letter was addressed to the head of the 514th military representative office of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation I.A. Shvyd.
In November 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on Milandr for illegal procurement of microelectronic components through dummy companies.
It is reported that Milandr is listed in the Russian state contracts database in over 500 contracts, supplying numerous state and military enterprises, including the Ural Optical-Mechanical Plant, Concern Automatika, and Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant or IEMZ Kupol, which also fell under US sanctions.
Alexey Novosyolov, the current director of Milandr, previously stated that he was not aware of any connections with the Russian army.
"I don't know any military personnel who would be interested in our product," he said in a phone interview with Bloomberg last August, adding that the company mainly produces electricity meters.
According to him, the accusations by the United States "sound like fantasy."
"The US State Department assumes that every electronic business in Russia is focused on the military. I think it's ridiculous," he said.
However, a representative of the US defense told Voice of America that helping Russian soldiers kill tens of thousands of people during an illegal invasion "is not funny."
"The company supplies microchips for missiles and heavy armored vehicles used to continue the war in Ukraine," said a representative of the defense department who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity.
"Their actions have consequences, and the United States will continue to expose and disrupt the Kremlin's supply chain," summarized the representative of the US defense department.
