28 January 2025

...[I]n December 2024, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, stated that Russia had increased the number of missiles “critically dependent on foreign components” despite regular shelling. He said Russia was producing some 50 Iskanders a month and was also building up its stockpile of other types of missiles.

As the BIC investigation has shown, Belarus is directly linked to this...

The BIC examined the photographs of the circuit boards provided by Beskrestnov and found that not all of the electronics in the device were Russian-made. Some chips show a logo in the shape of a lightning bolt or the Russian letter “И”. This is a trademark of the Belarusian state-owned company Integral (full name JSC Integral — Integral Holding Managing Company).

The use of Integral microchips in Russian weapons is also confirmed by the content of a Ukrainian expert, a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who wished to remain anonymous. In his YouTube vlog, he demonstrates these components in the R-37, Kh-59M2A, S-300, Kh-101 and Iskander rockets. In a comment to the BIC, he stated that half of the chips  in the latter two missiles are from Integral’s production. As you can see in the photos, some of them were released in 2023.

The Ukrainian Security Service also confirmed to the BIC that components manufactured by Integral are used in Russian missiles.

“Upon the examination of the remnants of the Russian missile from the Kalibr missile system, investigators from the Security Service have determined that the microcircuits utilised in its construction were manufactured at the facilities of the enterprise in question”, said a representative of the Ukrainian agency.

This means that Russia can continue to fire missiles at Ukraine, thanks in part to supplies from Belarus. In total, Integral shipped more than 6 million microchips worth more than $130 million to Russia between March 2022 and June 2024, according to customs data available to the BIC. By comparison, the total value of Belarusian microchip shipments to the Russian Federation during this period was just over $165 million. That is, Integral provided 80% of them.

Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Integral’s revenues have multiplied. In 2023, the company’s net profit increased by more than 11 times compared to 2022 — to almost 150 million Belarusian rubles (about $50 million). That is 40 times Integral’s 2021 earnings. At the time of publication, data for 2024 is not publicly available...