UK bans gaming controller exports to Russia to hinder military use

[Alfonso Maruccia]

What just happened? Three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UK has joined the European Union in a new round of sanctions targeting technology exports. The latest measures include restrictions on video game controllers and other consumer electronics, with officials stating their goal is to degrade Russia's military capabilities.

While the Pentagon now uses custom-built controllers to operate its systems, Russia continues to rely on off-the-shelf video game controllers manufactured in the West. Authorities in the UK aim to block exports of these devices after reports revealed that Russian forces have repurposed them to control drones in Ukraine air strikes.

The controller ban is part of 150 new trade sanctions imposed by the UK, which is now aligning with the EU's earlier strategy. Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty says Russia has exploited British consumer markets for too long by purchasing seemingly harmless gaming products and repurposing them for military use.

"Video game consoles will no longer be exploited to kill people in Ukraine," he said.

Officials in London say the new measures aim to clamp down on Russia's efforts to circumvent trade restrictions and acquire equipment for its military. Doughty confirmed that gaming controllers are part of a broader package of export bans designed to weaken Russia's armed forces.

Other banned products include software for identifying new fuel sources such as oil and gas. The sanctions also cover exports of chemicals, electronics, metals, machinery, and software tools linked to the energy and defense sectors. Doughty said these technologies could contribute to Russia's weapons production.

The UK announced the new sanctions following one of Russia's deadliest strikes on Kyiv in recent weeks. On Thursday, Russian forces launched a barrage of "dumb" missiles and 215 drones overnight, killing nine people and injuring dozens more. Russia claimed the attack targeted Ukraine's military facilities.

After the attack, UK Foreign Minister David Lammy condemned Russia for targeting Ukrainians while Kyiv officials were in London to discuss a potential peace treaty. Even President Donald Trump, who previously expressed trust in Vladimir Putin's word regarding Ukraine's invasion, called on the Russian leader to "stop" killing civilians once and for all.

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UK bans gaming controller exports to Russia to hinder military use

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Are the Russians actually buying game controllers from western countries? A quick check of Aliexpress shows a myriad of controllers available for very cheap, and last time I checked the Chinese have no problem trading stuff for Russian oil & minerals.

 

[Cocojambo13]

Cheap propaganda by UK, like anyone gives a spit about it.

 

[AlexIL]

What surprises me is that anyone in his sane mind believes that sanctioning largest country in the world with vast resources and highly educated population could possibly have any effect except irreversible damage to economies that actually attempt to enforce sanctions.

After this modern day politicians for the most part are card carrying members of a Braindead club.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Well a single gaming controller can last decades, so this decision is at least 3 years too late.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

What surprises me is that anyone in his sane mind believes that sanctioning largest country in the world with vast resources and highly educated population could possibly have any effect except irreversible damage to economies that actually attempt to enforce sanctions.

After this modern day politicians for the most part are card carrying members of a Braindead club.

Well, the sanctions might have had some effect if every other country could be encouraged to play along. But as we all know the Chinese don't really care & are glad to sell Russia stuff in exchange for the natural resources Russia has in ample supply, and with so many goods being made in China these days, well honestly what does Russia need that China can't sell them?

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Considering the majority of game controllers are made in China and Russia still has allies, ok. But I guess Governments have to show they're doing something.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

This is like a bad SNL skit. Next they'll ban AA batteries so their current controllers will stop working.
-facepalm-

 

[AlexIL]

Well, the sanctions might have had some effect if every other country could be encouraged to play along. But as we all know the Chinese don't really care & are glad to sell Russia stuff in exchange for the natural resources Russia has in ample supply, and with so many goods being made in China these days, well honestly what does Russia need that China can't sell them?

Chinese, India, half of EU, all South America. The list can go on endlessly. Sanctions was a bad idea in the first place. It can work with banana republic the size of nupkin but certainly not ever with world's juggernaut. Results of sanctions best seen at economies of these enforcing them.

You can't expect having a shop and then not to sell your goods to half the street your shop on and not take a serious hit on your shop income.

 

[noel24]

What surprises me is that anyone in his sane mind believes that sanctioning largest country in the world with vast resources and highly educated population could possibly have any effect except irreversible damage to economies that actually attempt to enforce sanctions.

After this modern day politicians for the most part are card carrying members of a Braindead club.

Russian bot. Seriously, go somewhere else to cry out. You will not convince a lot of people that You are some superior race. You are right now at the point of no return in economical collapse, like Germany in the beginning on 1945. Ukraine will not fold, even if They will lose militarily. You will have million years worth of American Revolutionist, Polish resistance, IRA and ETA style partisanship in Your land for a next 1000 years. Like, go to any country that tasted real freedom the last 100 years and They will tell You the same.

 

[PsyDuck87]

Are the Russians actually buying game controllers from western countries? A quick check of Aliexpress shows a myriad of controllers available for very cheap, and last time I checked the Chinese have no problem trading stuff for Russian oil & minerals.

It's bs for pro-war sheep. "Total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Russia was £1.9 billion in the four quarters
to the end of Q3 2024"

Oh god, plz don't sell them gaming controllers.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Russian bot. Seriously, go somewhere else to cry out. You will not convince a lot of people that You are some superior race. You are right now at the point of no return in economical collapse, like Germany in the beginning on 1945. Ukraine will not fold, even if They will lose militarily. You will have million years worth of American Revolutionist, Polish resistance, IRA and ETA style partisanship in Your land for a next 1000 years. Like, go to any country that tasted real freedom the last 100 years and They will tell You the same.

I'd be more likely to believe you if this didnt come across as a teenager criposting with the constant grammatic and punctuation errors. And nobody brought up anything about "race" before you did. Freudian slip?

More importantly.....is he wrong? The West pushed sanctions on russia in 2022. 3 years later:
-Russia's economy has not collapsed
-banned goods are still available
-the war is still going
-europe is still buying russian gas (source: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-...-speed-despite-cut-off-sanctions-war-ukraine/ )

The only thing the sanctions have been effective on has been removing russian supply of western imports like Boeing parts. But given how much tech is made in SE asia, and russias trade partners in BRICS, the sanctions have been more about virtue signaling for the West rather than actually being effective at stopping Russia.

Even if Russia stops right now, they have succeeded in obliterating Ukraine's population, some cities, and have doomed them to perpetually being a satellite state controlled by international interests (or more so then they already were, let us not forget the West's opinion on the big Z before this invasion started; he was "the most corrupt dictator in europe". Yes, they considered him WORSE then putin at one point).

If the West "cared" about Ukraine, they would have allowed them to join NATO in 2014 to protect them from further invasions. Or they could have helped re arm and fortify the country over the next 8 years.

 

[noel24]

I'd be more likely to believe you if this didnt come across as a teenager criposting with the constant grammatic and punctuation errors. And nobody brought up anything about "race" before you did. Freudian slip?

More importantly.....is he wrong? The West pushed sanctions on russia in 2022. 3 years later:
-Russia's economy has not collapsed
-banned goods are still available
-the war is still going
-europe is still buying russian gas (source: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-...-speed-despite-cut-off-sanctions-war-ukraine/ )

The only thing the sanctions have been effective on has been removing russian supply of western imports like Boeing parts. But given how much tech is made in SE asia, and russias trade partners in BRICS, the sanctions have been more about virtue signaling for the West rather than actually being effective at stopping Russia.

Even if Russia stops right now, they have succeeded in obliterating Ukraine's population, some cities, and have doomed them to perpetually being a satellite state controlled by international interests (or more so then they already were, let us not forget the West's opinion on the big Z before this invasion started; he was "the most corrupt dictator in europe". Yes, they considered him WORSE then putin at one point).

If the West "cared" about Ukraine, they would have allowed them to join NATO in 2014 to protect them from further invasions. Or they could have helped re arm and fortify the country over the next 8 years.

I'm not a native speaker, so I could make some slips, but:
- Russians really considers Themselves as superior to other slavs, while in fact descendants of Kiev Rus repeatadely r*ped by Mongols and Vikings, but took only worst traits from Them, mostly inclination toward violence.
- Soviet Union collapsed as a result of economical hardship brought in by general ineficiency, and Afghan invasion, maybe exacerbated by Chernobyl explosion. Resources didn't help. Right now Russia is on so called war footing. Hitler built Germany's economy fast on war technology in the 30s, but when war ended, Germany nedeed marshall plan for starting It up. Russia suffered Dutch disease for decades anyway.
-Banned goods are available, but at the inflated price. Supply and demand.
-War is going, that's actually amazing. Poland and France fell quite fast in 1939-40. Even worse for the one of the greatest superpower in the world.
-Yes, unfortunately that's what happens in war - corporations still do Their business. While thinking the sanctions will stop trade is quite naive, the purpose is to make daily operation of the agressor harder. And applying them in waves is maybe naive way of giving the agressor some suggestion that there is way out. He just must stop. But in the end, it is just business.
I've never heard about Zelensky being "the most corrupt dictator in Europe" before the war. That some Moscow's gaslighting talking point. You're either unknowingly pedling some russian propaganda or are russian "bot" Yourself.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I'm not a native speaker, so I could make some slips, but:

Well, allow me to break it down for you:

- Russians really considers Themselves as superior to other slavs, while in fact descendants of Kiev Rus repeatadely raped by Mongols and Vikings, but took only worse traits from Them, mostly inclination toward violence.

Nobody is talking about Race but you. It comes across as Obsessive and weird, and it undermines any other points you may be making.

- Soviet Union collapsed as a result of economical hardship brought in by general ineficiency, and Afghan invasion, maybe exacerbated by Chernobyl explosion. Resources didn't help. Right now Russia is on so called war footing. Hitler built Germany's economy fast on war technology in the 30s, but when war ended, Germany nedeed marshall plan for starting It up. Russia suffered Dutch disease for decades anyway.

This is a series of disconnected statements put into some kind of point. None of this has anything to do with current day Russia. We are not talking about WWII, or Not-See germany, or the soviet union.

-Banned goods are available, but at the inflated price. Supply and demand.

So.....the sanctions failed to prevent access to these goods. Thank you for proving me right.

-War is going, that's actually amazing. Poland and France fell quite fast in 1939-40. Even worse for the one of the greatest superpower in the world.

Again...we are not talking about the history of WWII.

-Yes, unfortunately that's what happens in war - corporations still do Their business. While thinking the sanctions will stop trade is quite naive, the purpose is to make daily operation of the agressor harder. And applying them in waves is maybe naive way of giving the agressor some suggestion that there is way out. He just must stop. But in the end, it is just business.

Literally the POINT OF SANCTIONS is to stop trade with affected nations. By stating "it is just business" you are agreeing with me that the sanctions have failed to affect Russia in any significant manner.

I've never heard about Zelensky being "the most corrupt dictator in Europe" before the war. That some Moscow's gaslighting talking point. You're either unknowingly pedling some russian propaganda or are russian "bot" Yourself.

I should publish a book!

"Everyone I dont like is a Russian bot, a guide to dented internet discourse"

I'm sorry you disagree with what I'm saying, but if the best you can offer is name calling and rambling about WWII, you might not have any sort of real counter argument.

 

[noel24]

Well, OK, let's wait how occupation of Ukraine comes out for You, comrade.

 

[3ogdy]

The more I read about topics such as this one, the more gobsmacked I am by the incompetence of EU governments.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, then in 2022, yet they are only now thinking that maybe joysticks and controllers could be used to kill Ukrainians.
Does the UK have a military anymore?

 

[m4a4]

I mean, as long as they have access to China (y'know, the country that makes them and rips off a multitude of other devices), why is this even news?

 

[arrowflash]

Are the Russians actually buying game controllers from western countries? A quick check of Aliexpress shows a myriad of controllers available for very cheap, and last time I checked the Chinese have no problem trading stuff for Russian oil & minerals.

Not to mention, at this point I'd trust an 8BitDo, FlyDigi or GameSir (Chinese brands) controller more than an Xbox, Sony, Logitech or Nintendo controller to control military equipment.

 

[AlexIL]

Well, OK, let's wait how occupation of Ukraine comes out for You, comrade.

Let me be frank.

Huge systems take time from action to reaction. Even Boeing engines takes time to spool up from pilot's moving thrusters to engines go to thrust set. Worldwide economy takes years to get results of actions.

Today's rampant inflation and slave level salaries with lack of meaningful jobs or any jobs at all in some industries is the result of sanctions imposed years ago. Guess why. Because there is no orders on goods produced or services provided to enormously large part of the global economy.

I do not want nor support that me my family and my country pay for plainly stupid ideological decisions made by incompetent politicians that actually gets the boot throughout all the democracies. We're tired of their knighthood on our expense.

 

[Liranan]

I'd be more likely to believe you if this didnt come across as a teenager criposting with the constant grammatic and punctuation errors. And nobody brought up anything about "race" before you did. Freudian slip?

More importantly.....is he wrong? The West pushed sanctions on russia in 2022. 3 years later:
-Russia's economy has not collapsed
-banned goods are still available
-the war is still going
-europe is still buying russian gas (source: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-...-speed-despite-cut-off-sanctions-war-ukraine/ )

The only thing the sanctions have been effective on has been removing russian supply of western imports like Boeing parts. But given how much tech is made in SE asia, and russias trade partners in BRICS, the sanctions have been more about virtue signaling for the West rather than actually being effective at stopping Russia.

Even if Russia stops right now, they have succeeded in obliterating Ukraine's population, some cities, and have doomed them to perpetually being a satellite state controlled by international interests (or more so then they already were, let us not forget the West's opinion on the big Z before this invasion started; he was "the most corrupt dictator in europe". Yes, they considered him WORSE then putin at one point).

If the West "cared" about Ukraine, they would have allowed them to join NATO in 2014 to protect them from further invasions. Or they could have helped re arm and fortify the country over the next 8 years.

Russia hasn't ob obliterated anything, you think that Russia couldn't "shock and awe" Ukraine if they wanted to? You think that they couldn't wipe out that thieving, prancing princess Clownensky if they wanted to? The reason they haven't is because they don't want to. That thief has invested 1.4b in mining in South Africa while his country burns. The great Seymor Hersch reported that he steals 400m a year but the 'poasters' here are so blinded by propaganda that they can't see beyond the iron curtain they live behind.

Everything else is fake virtue signalling by a failing west hell bent on imprisoning their own populace for resisting mass immigration and criticising their traitorous politicians.

 

[Megalomaniac]

I miss the world where Russia, China and America just traded freely.
And that was just 2018.

 

[kinetix]

Well, the sanctions might have had some effect if every other country could be encouraged to play along. But as we all know the Chinese don't really care & are glad to sell Russia stuff in exchange for the natural resources Russia has in ample supply, and with so many goods being made in China these days, well honestly what does Russia need that China can't sell them?

Why should "every other country be encouraged to play along"?
Outside of this groupie that calls itself "the west," which represents only 15% of the planet, the rest (even inside this small group) don't give a d..n about Ukraine, or directly or indirectly support Russia.
Does anyone wonder why?
And even why it increases?
Because of sports?
And do you expect that those who have been attacked for decades or are under attack (in so many different ways, from military to coercion) by "the west" and hasn't cared about by "the west" (except for plundering) will now support or care about the concerns of "the west"?
The media and politicians paint a picture and repeat mantras, propaganda, and PR at their convenience... the reality is usually quite different.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Why should "every other country be encouraged to play along"?
Outside of this groupie that calls itself "the west," even within this small group, which represents only 15% of the planet, the rest don't give a d..n about Ukraine, or directly or indirectly support Russia.
Does anyone wonder why?
And even why it increases?
Because of sports?
And do you expect that those who have been attacked (in so many different ways) by the "west" and hasn't cared about by "the west" will now support or care about the concerns of the "west"?
The media and politicians paint a picture and repeat mantras, propaganda, and PR at their convenience... the reality is usually quite different.

Well said: Trump's America is an anachronism that the rest of the world rejects.

BRICS.

 

[TastyGrapes]

Performative nonsense. Making an announcement of such an obviously ineffectual policy just makes the UK look weak and unserious, honestly, and is therefore worse than nothing.

Russia may not be able to manufacture cutting edge microchips but given they can very much manufacture tanks and missiles and fighter jets, a lick of common sense will tell you that their war machine isn't gonna break down because we're restricting them from our exclusive cutting edge technology of analog sticks and plastic buttons.

 

[lonetac]

I'd be more likely to believe you if this didnt come across as a teenager criposting with the constant grammatic and punctuation errors. And nobody brought up anything about "race" before you did. Freudian slip?

More importantly.....is he wrong? The West pushed sanctions on russia in 2022. 3 years later:
-Russia's economy has not collapsed
-banned goods are still available
-the war is still going
-europe is still buying russian gas (source: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-...-speed-despite-cut-off-sanctions-war-ukraine/ )

The only thing the sanctions have been effective on has been removing russian supply of western imports like Boeing parts. But given how much tech is made in SE asia, and russias trade partners in BRICS, the sanctions have been more about virtue signaling for the West rather than actually being effective at stopping Russia.

Even if Russia stops right now, they have succeeded in obliterating Ukraine's population, some cities, and have doomed them to perpetually being a satellite state controlled by international interests (or more so then they already were, let us not forget the West's opinion on the big Z before this invasion started; he was "the most corrupt dictator in europe". Yes, they considered him WORSE then putin at one point).

If the West "cared" about Ukraine, they would have allowed them to join NATO in 2014 to protect them from further invasions. Or they could have helped re arm and fortify the country over the next 8 years.

Or not strip them of their nukes in promise of protecting them only to turn our backs on them when they needed protection...