West is ‘missing obscure sanctions that could set back Russia’s war machine’
In the off chance the Trump administration realizes Putin is making fools of them and wants to try and end this
Today, The Guardian published an article about some of our findings about weaknesses in Russia’s chemical sector. Tl;dr: Russia cannot produce the vital chemical necessary to produce mechanical lubricants (think: engine oil, axle grease and the things that make mechanical warfare possible), and imports almost 60% of their national supply from one (!) Chinese company.
From the article:
Only a handful of companies worldwide make chemical additives for mechanical lubricants – motor oil for tanks and cars. Almost all of them stopped selling the chemicals to Russia at the start of its full-scale invasion, leading to widespread shortages and complaints from motorists.
Dekleptocracy found that one Chinese company, Xinxiang Richful, now satisfies a large part of Russia’s demand, supplying up to eight million kilograms a year. Richful recently set up an office in Virginia. Blocking it, as well as a few smaller suppliers, would create a mechanical lubricant shortage in Russia, the group says.
Further:
Russia has a strong oil industry, but it lacks domestic producers of many lesser-known but important chemicals, including food additives and substances used to make tyres, pharmaceuticals and shampoo. Moscow started an initiative earlier this year to produce hundreds of chemicals domestically – further evidence that the sector is a weakness, Dekeleptocracy says.
Well, we have that list for you. Screenshots and the full document are below the fold. As I stated in the article, this stuff is weedy. But that does not mean it’s important. The Russian economy cannot function without these chemicals, and it cannot manufacture them internally.
Richful, the Chinese company supplying Russia, has recently opened an office in Norfolk, Virginia and has begun hiring people in the UK. They have also applied for a trademark for a marine lubricant. The fact that Norfolk is home to America’s largest naval base and the British trademark would seem to indicate that Richful has plans to expand to the marine lubricants sector and sell to the US and British Navies.
That could be something nefarious, or it could simply be a market niche that they have identified. Either way, authorities in the US and UK need to be paying attention. Richful is key to tremendous leverage that the US and UK have over Russia.
For more details on the backstory, we wrote a March post about the subject.
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