From April 1, 2023, a system for recording products imported and exported from the country will work in Kazakhstan, which “will allow real-time tracking of the entire chain of movement of goods from border to border”, preventing circumvention of sanctions against Russia. The Financial Times and Eurasianet write about this with reference to high-ranking officials of Kazakhstan, RBC reports.
“Our government has repeatedly and very clearly stated that Kazakhstan does not impose any sanctions or restrictions on trade with Russia. However, it will not allow Western sanctions to be bypassed and will not become a platform for such a circumvention,” the portal’s interlocutor said.
The Kazakh official noted that Kazakhstan understands all the risks associated with secondary sanctions, the republic is closely monitoring trade with all partners.
"Suspicious trade transactions are subject to close scrutiny and administrative action is taken if necessary," the official added.
RBC sent a request to the Ministry of Finance and the government of Kazakhstan.
According to the Bureau of National Statistics of Kazakhstan, last year exports to Russia increased by 25% compared to 2021 figures. In particular, the number of washing machines imported from Kazakhstan to Russia increased from zero in 2021 to 100,000 a year later, FT points out. Eurasianet writes that in 2021, Kazakhstan exported $12,000 worth of advanced semiconductors to Russia, but this figure jumped to $3.7 million in 2022.
At the same time, officials note that a lot of European products arrive in Kazakhstan for further export to Russia from countries that have not imposed sanctions against Moscow - Turkey and China.
In recent weeks, Russian companies have been inundated with requests from their partners in Kazakhstan to help circumvent international sanctions, seven sources told Reuters. The interlocutors said that the requests concerned the supply of a wide variety of products - "from telephones and bearings to aircraft parts and rare earth metals." According to Reuters, Russian companies were interested in, among other things, equipment for industry, advanced electronics, radio equipment, turbines, aircraft parts, raw materials and even materials for bank cards. Two sources attributed this trend to interruptions in the supply of sanctions from Turkey.
"This means that the boom [of deliveries through Kazakhstan] is just beginning," said one of the entrepreneurs interviewed by the agency.
The leadership of the European Union and the US authorities earlier began to pay special attention to the possible circumvention of sanctions through Russia's closest trading partners. Brussels noted that the flow of exports to such countries has grown sharply along with a decrease in direct deliveries to Russia. Russia's neighbors "suddenly have a lot of new needs," said EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan.
According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), such dynamics in trade was found primarily in relation to Kazakhstan, Turkey, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian authorities call Western sanctions ineffective, harming to a greater extent the initiators of the restrictions themselves and demand their lifting. President Vladimir Putin insists that the restrictive measures are "crazy and thoughtless."
CentralasianLIGHT.org
March 24, 2023