Switzerland should do more to stop Swiss components ending up in Russian drones used to attack Ukraine, says Russian chess grandmaster and dissident Garry Kasparov.
“Russians always find a way to get the components,” Kasparov said on February 18 in Geneva while attending the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. “Ukrainians present new evidence (of this) constantly: they capture one or two Russian drones, open them up, and reveal that they contain American and Swiss components,” he said.
A former world chess champion, Kasparov is a prominent opposition figure of Russian president Vladimir Putin. He is labelled a “terrorist and extremist” by the Kremlin. He made the remarks this week in the Swiss city as US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia for controversial talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
Several international and Swiss media reports, including a 2023 investigation by SWI swissinfo.ch, have documented how Western electrical components, including some from Switzerland, end up in Russian drones, despite international sanctions on weapons to Russia.
These components are often of dual use, meaning they can be both used for civil and military purposes. They enter Russia through third countries such as Kazakhstan and Turkey. Tracking the use of components is the responsibility of each country which imposes sanctions. The use of Russian drones such as Lancet, which contain Western components, to kill Ukrainians and destroy infrastructure.
“If there is a will, there is a way,” said Kasparov, arguing that Switzerland and the US could implement more robust measures to disrupt the supply chain for parts used in drones.
“[The West] must recognise this reality: 70-80% of the components in Russian drones are of Western origin, with the majority being American,” he said.
Transit via Third Countries
Russia typically receives critical drone components via third countries such as China, which accounts for 67% of shipments, with 17% of them going through Hong Kong, according to a study by the Yermak-McFaul International Working Group and KSE Institute.External link
Components made by the Swiss company U-blox AG have been found in Russian dronesExternal link as recently as 2024, according to the data of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of UkraineExternal link.
In 2023, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) told SWI swissinfo.ch that it had already taken measures to prevent Swiss components from reaching Russia. Companies were informed about suspicious foreign recipients and transit countries, and deliveries to these countries were halted.
Switzerland also tightened border controls. SECO stated that possible technical measures to limit Russia’s use of these goods were under discussion but provided no further details.
‘Business Goes On’
Kasparov accused the West of continuing to trade with Russia’s closest allies and indirectly of helping Russia bypass sanctions and sustain its war on Ukraine.
“Exports from Germany to Russia have, dropped ten times. However, German exports to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries have grown by almost the same proportion. Stopping this is impossible because business is business,” he said, pointing out routes used by Russia to bypass sanctions.
Kasparov’s remarks coincide with a difficult diplomatic and military time for Ukraine.
The prospect of peace talks and negotiations emerged this month in a highly disadvantageous dynamic for Kyiv. US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin engaged in a lengthy phone call, abruptly ending a policy of isolation adopted by the West after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Since then, US and Russian officials met in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. They agreed to launch a “process for the Ukrainian settlement” and to appoint negotiators. Neither Ukraine nor the European Union were invited to the talks which aimed to lay a roadmap for the end of the war.
Recent remarks both by the US president and senior officials suggest an eventual agreement could include territorial concessions for Ukraine. Despite these developments, Kasparov believes victory is still within reach of the Ukrainian army, provided the West gives it the support it needs.
“The reason Putin is negotiating is because the Ukrainian army is still there [alive],” he says. “Whether Ukraine does a better job on the battlefield depends not on the quality of the soldiers, but on the weapons, on the technology that Ukraine receives [from the West]”.
Photo: Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone
Source: SWI Swissinfo