Rail freight's Russian EXCLUSIVE: By

RUSSIA’S rail routes are the West's weakest link in keeping the arms flowing to Ukraine, yet there appears to be a laissez-faire attitude to the possibility of them suddenly being cut – rendering the West near helpless in its aim to continue pumping arms into a raging conflict.

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was mercilessly ridiculed after claiming that Russian president Vladimir Putin had threatened him with a missile, during a telephone call to discuss the Ukraine war – something that the Russian government dismissed as laughable.

However, those fighting Russia should have rather more pressing concerns to worry about and despite all their bluster seem to have forgotten that Russia could have the last laugh if it decided to disrupt rail freight traffic passing through its country – traffic that is being used to produce weapons for its enemies. Talk of supplying Ukraine with tanks, missile launchers and all manner of military hardware would be purely academic if there were to be no ammunition to supply them with.

Major freight route

Western arms manufacturers see Russia as vital to their survival. Russia is situated at the centre of a major freight route that supplies western arms manufacturers with an endless supply of metals that are required to produce microchips, electronics and ammunition for modern weapons. The majority of the necessary metals needed to manufacture these vital components are mined in China. The war has seen Russian Railways JSC, along with other freight companies, convey an ever-increasing volume of such materials – materials that would severely hamper Russia's enemies should they suddenly be curtailed.

During the first nine months of 2022, the amount of rare earth metals from China that were carried by train across Russia, reached a staggering 36,074 tons. This figure is more than double the volume transported for the whole of 2021. The value of that trade rose by more than 89%, to €377 million ($408 million) through September.

Michael Wurmser, the founder of Norge Mining Ltd said: "It is astonishing that despite all the sanctions, this supply chain still works. It underlines the importance of those rare earths and shows how much we depend on them.”

Norge Mining has held talks with industry executives in a bid to create other supply lines of strategic materials. One option being considered is Norway, where Norge Mining has considerable business interests.

The country has significant deposits of vanadium and titanium, both metals being vital to the defence industry. Production of these metals is