Lithuania, other Western countries export war technology to Russia - study

VILNIUS - In 2023 and 2024, Lithuania and other Western countries exported to Russia technologies that the Russians may have used in their artillery in the war against Ukraine, Lithuania's public radio LRT reports on Friday.

Denys Hutyk, director of the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, who led the joint Ukrainian-British investigation team, told the LRT that Lithuanian companies accounted for about 2.5 percent of these exports that includes processors, chips etc.

The study shows that Lithuanian businesses continue to sell parts to Russia, Hutyk said.

"Some Lithuanian companies, Lithuanian suppliers are still involved in direct exports to Russia. This allows Russia to get the parts it needs more quickly and facilitates the circumvention of the existing sanctions," Hutyk told the LRT radio.

For his part, former Deputy Economy and Innovation Minister Karolis Zemaitis stresses the need to distinguish between goods produced in Lithuania and those re-exported through the country, pointing out that Lithuanian companies export very little high technology to Russia, but a lot of it is transported through the country due to its strong logistics sector and favorable geographical location.

"Lithuanian makers produce microscopically few products that could be of interest to Russia compared to the whole world, but our logistics sector certainly has enough capacity to participate in these processes," he told the radio.

According to Hutyk, high-tech components allow Russia to automate and modernize its military industry. Technologies from the UK, Germany and other EU countries mostly enter Russia via China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"Taiwan is one of the largest exporters of high-tech parts to Russia. In 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, Taiwan had the highest number of companies after China that directly exported parts to Russia," Hutyk said. "If Lithuanian companies have increased their exports to Taiwan, there is a high risk that these goods have been directed to Russia."

Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said on Thursday he had no information that Lithuanian goods could be used by the Russian military industry.

The Lithuanian government plans to ease the existing restrictions on the export of dual-use goods by air to third countries, introduced only last month by the former Cabinet to prevent them from reaching Russia. Some Lithuanian companies, such as the hi-tech group Teltonika, are unhappy about this.