Gary Somerville

It may be a way to mask Russia's current rate of missile production, versus how quickly Moscow is going through missiles, added Gary Somerville, a research fellow with the Open-Source Intelligence and Analysis Research Group at the London-based think tank, the Royal United Services Institute. "We already know that the Kh-101s that have been produced after the 2022 invasion began have undergone some notable technological improvements so that it is easy to tell the difference between the two iterations," he told Newsweek. "We have seen instances of components being used in Russian weapons where serial numbers or branding have been removed or attempts have been made to remove them, but this has not been consistent across the various platforms."

Gary Sommerville, an open-source intelligence investigator with the UK's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), authored a recent report that found 450 foreign-made components were being used in Russia's most sophisticated weapons. He said Russia had adapted to the sanctions and built a successful covert procurement system centered in its neighbors and other nearby states, including Kazakhstan. "Despite the initial sanctions and export control measures that were put in place just after the invasion of Ukraine, they have adapted and they're relying on these on these third countries," he told Insider. "It's a problem we've never faced before, at least not on this scale," he said.

The continuing access to specialized rifle cartridges made in the West, such as the .338 Lapua Magnum, by a sanctioned Russian small arms manufacturer like Orsis maker Promtekhnologiya is “egregious,” said Gary Somerville, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British defense think tank. “At present, there is only one manufacturer of this cartridge in Russia,” he added. “Preventing the shipment of these types of ammunition from Western countries to Russia is an easy win for those seeking to constrain Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.”