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1/ Russian defence workers say they are facing a chronic shortage of electronic components, leading to them reusing old components, 'cannibalising' them from other devices and increasingly using unreliable Chinese substitutes. ⬇️ 
2/ Polygon Media has interviewed a number of people working for the Russian defence industry. One man, 'Matvey', works at the Vector plant in Yekaterinburg – part of the giant Almaz-Antey industrial concern. He says military work has entirely taken over the plant's production.
3/ Working conditions have deteriorated since the war began. There are now frequent security checks and workers are not allowed to take mobile phones into the plant. Employee benefits such as kindergarten vouchers are no longer available due to a shortage of funding.
4/ However, business is booming due to the increase in military production. Workers are not being paid more, but they benefit from being exempt from the ongoing mobilisation in Russia. Some who were considering leaving have stayed in order to avoid being mobilised.
5/ There are also now far fewer opportunities in the civilian sector due to the war. Sanctions have caused the shrinkage or closure of many Russian companies, leaving skilled workers with little alternative to employment in defence factories. The only other option is to emigrate.
6/ The biggest problem faced by the workers at Vektor is a severe shortage of electronic components, due to sanctions. Matvey says: "The shortage is so severe that obsolete sample PCBs with old components have been [reused] for production."
7/ "These have been pulled out of stock, but even these [stocks] are now almost fully used up."
This causes longer lead times for repairs as well as for the production of new products.
This causes longer lead times for repairs as well as for the production of new products.
8/ Matvey says that the component base for many devices has had to be changed since the beginning of the war. Older or Chinese-made alternatives have had to be substituted. Vector's management has told workers: "Use what you can find on the floor".
9/ Many of the formerly used components were made in the US. Getting them is now very difficult and Russia lacks indigeneous alternatives. An engineer says, "There are no Russian counterparts in particular, their active development only began after the start of the war."
10/ Another interviewee says: "It turned out that 'Russian' microchips are not Russian for the most part, so it's just impossible to get them now." He also says that his factory is engaging in "component cannibalism" – the use of components taken from other devices.
11/ The engineer also notes that Chinese components, which are increasingly being used, are "of inferior quality and performance to their American counterparts."
12/ Accoridng to the Russian state-run newspaper Kommersant, the proportion of defective chips and components from China has increased from 2% to 40% in 2022.
13/ This is reportedly because sanctions mean that importers rely on "longer supply chains and buy goods not directly from factories, but from intermediaries and exchanges, so the degree of quality control of products is decreasing," according to Kommersant.
14/ Even before the war, Vector was hampered by a lack of investment in the tools it uses. Matvey notes that "at university, I was trained on relatively modern software (the penultimate or latest version of the software)."
15/ "At the factory, on the other hand, the software is 10 years old. We use Altium Designer to design circuit boards. We purchased a license for it and it is officially legitimate, but the license is from 2013."
16/ "We have a couple of grannies in our department, and they work with PiCad from 2006!"
17/ Polygon concludes: "Many interlocutors see that their work is changing, and so far only for the worse. It is difficult to assess the damage of the sanctions, as it depends on many variables.
18/ "However, most interviewees, producing very different products, highlight a common problem - a complete lack of certain types of electronic components or greatly increased delivery times. Sanctions work, no matter what propaganda tells us." /end
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