Much of Russia’s war machine reportedly remains reliant on exports of cotton pulp, or cellulose, from two factories in Uzbekistan. Cellulose is a key ingredient in nitrocellulose, or ...

The process of making viscose silk starts from an alkaline solution of cellulose. The wood or cotton pulp is treated with caustic soda until a merceriza-tion somewhat similar to the chemical ...

U.S. sanctions do not apply to cotton pulp exports, though observers of Russia’s war machine and war economy have several times raised the issue of whether Muminov should be personally sanctioned.