“The United States of America has provided $175 billion in security assistance to Ukraine as it attempts to defend itself from Russian aggression,” an attorney said. “But most of the damage we’re seeing there now is being caused by missiles and drones guided to their targets by American chip technology that’s being illegally exported into Russia.”
A series of recently-filed lawsuits accuses two Texas-based companies of indirectly supplying Russia with technology used to military conduct operations in Ukraine, including strikes that have killed civilians.
According to National Public Radio, the lawsuit more specifically alleges that the defendants failed to prevent Russia and other countries from obtaining semiconductors that the companies either produced or distributed and which were subsequently used by Russia to produce weapons systems.
The defendants include Texas Instruments and Mouser Electronics, both of which are based in Texas. Advanced Micro Devices and Intel Corporation have been named as co-defendants.
Mikal Watts, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said at a press conference that he recently spent nine days in Ukraine collecting evidence for the lawsuits.
“We took photographs, we collected evidence, we took video, and the bottom line is each drone comes with the equivalent of a black box that survives the impact,” Watts said. “When you go in, you can see the chip technology, you can see names of companies from Dallas, Texas.”
KERA News notes that the plaintiffs are victims of five different strikes; some of the plaintiffs are as young as 3. Each of the lawsuits seeks at least $1,000,000 in damages.
“The United States of America has provided $175 billion in security assistance to Ukraine as it attempts to defend itself from Russian aggression,” Watts said. “But most of the damage we’re seeing there now is being caused by missiles and drones guided to their targets by American chip technology that’s being illegally exported into Russia.”
An Intel spokesperson has since said that the company conducts no business in Russia; Intel also said that it ceased all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus immediately after the war escalated in February 2022.
“We operate in strict accordance with export laws, sanctions and regulations in the U.S. and every market in which we operate, and we hold our suppliers, customers, and distributors accountable to these same standards,” the Intel spokesperson said. “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.”
The lawsuit, though, says that the defendant companies circumvent U.S. law by selling semiconductors and other components to middlemen. These middlemen, some based in Iran and China, then resell the technology. Attorneys claim that American semiconductors can now be find in Iranian drones like the Shahed 131 and Russian missile systems such as the Iskander-M and Kh-101.
“What’s happened in Ukraine, we all know, is atrocious,” said Charla Aldous, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “But what’s worse is to know that American companies, knowing what was happening, or should have known what was happening, was continuing to give supplies to the Russians, which would allow them to kill civilians, including doctors, mothers, fathers, and children in Ukraine.”
Sources
Texas companies supplied technology used in Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, lawsuits allege
Texas technology firms armed Russia with weapon components used to attack Ukraine, lawsuits say
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