The speed of weapon production in Russia has reached a historic peak, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a conversation with the President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende. The meeting took place at a gathering of foreign ministers from Arab and European countries in Saudi Arabia.

“If you look at what Russia’s done over the last year in terms of its production of munitions, missiles, tanks, and armored vehicles, it’s produced them at a faster pace than at any time in its modern history, including during the Cold War as the Soviet Union,” Blinken said.

Russia has achieved record levels thanks to massive deliveries of machine tools, microelectronics, optics, mostly from China, added the US Secretary of State. “70 percent of the machine tools, 90 percent of the microelectronics are coming from China.  Now, these are dual-use items, but we know very clearly where so many of them are going,” Blinken added.

It is thanks to China that Russia is succeeding despite sanctions. Beijing does not directly transfer weapons but rather provides invaluable support to the Russian defense industry.

China’s support for Russia presents two concerns: it perpetuates Russian aggression towards Ukraine and enables the Kremlin to reestablish a defense-industrial foundation that could potentially be turned against other European nations in the aftermath of Ukraine’s downfall. “It’s also fueling the greatest challenge to European security since the end of the Cold War,” Blinken emphasized.