Russia has discovered a "remarkably simple" method to acquire American microchips while circumventing sanctions.

Russian military personnel have discovered an "astonishingly simple" method to procure chips from the USA that are used in weapon production.

This was reported by the Bloomberg agency.

To implement the scheme, distributors in Russia cloned the online catalog of the American manufacturer Texas Instruments (TI), according to the publication's investigation.

Russian distributors integrated data from TI's official online store into their websites, which does not require verification of the end buyer of its products.

Through intermediary websites, companies from Russia can order chips "with just a few clicks," delivering them in small batches through third countries, Bloomberg reports.

The origin of the orders remains hidden from the American company, which does not see the end buyer.

According to this scheme, from January to August of this year, semiconductor products worth $6 million were purchased, of which $4 million definitely went to the needs of the defense industry, journalists calculated.

The supplies and payments were processed through third countries, with chips delivered to Russia by the freight company Sea Global SCM and "Aeroflot."

These relatively simple chips play a central role in Russia's ability to produce weapons, the agency notes.

The U.S. authorities have warned chip manufacturers that they need to monitor more closely to ensure their technologies do not fall into the hands of the Russian military. At hearings in September, Senator Richard Blumenthal stated that companies "objectively and consciously do not prevent Russia from benefiting from the use of their technologies," Bloomberg writes.

Despite the sanctions, Russia imported American and European chips worth $1.7 billion in 2023, Bloomberg reported in January, citing classified data from Russian customs.

As a reminder: in July, German newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung, TV channels NDR and WDR, French newspaper Le Monde, and the Ukrainian project Trap Aggressor published an investigation stating that the group of companies "Promtech," which collaborates with the Russian army, imported dual-use goods worth nearly $8 million from the USA, Germany, and other EU countries in 2023, contrary to sanctions.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that the European Union is asking the USA to soften sanctions against the Russian Gazprombank. The EU and the USA are currently discussing the forms and scope of possible relaxations.