European Union Envoy on Sanctions David O'Sullivan plans to visit Uzbekistan, he said on March 28 during his visit to Kyrgyzstan. The EU Delegation to Uzbekistan daid that his arrival could take place on April 27-28.
David O'Sullivan, speaking in Kyrgyzstan, said that he was visiting countries that are helping Russia to circumvent EU’s sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, Kyrgyz news publication Kaktus.media said. In addition to Uzbekistan, he also intends to visit Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia and has already visited the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
David O'Sullivan said: “We respect the opinion of countries that do not support sanctions against Russia. But we would not want them to become a platform for circumventing the sanctions.”
“For some items, the exports from the EU countries to Kyrgyzstan grew by 700%. We are talking about advanced technologies and dual-use goods. For example, smartphones, video cameras, devices with sophisticated technology that can be used in war,” said David O’Sullivan.
He added that the EU would not want the exported products to be used for military purposes, and the components were found in Russian weapons.
While, O’Sullivan noted that he understood that Kyrgyzstan and Russia had strong trade and economic ties and no one would undermine them.
“No one wants the issue of sanctions to destroy relations between Kyrgyzstan and the European Union, but this requires a dialogue to understand what measures would be taken. “We are ready to provide legal assistance and training to understand the circumvention of sanctions. Experts for customs and other services can come here already in autumn. Meetings have already been held with the presidential administration, and we must come to a mutually acceptable solution,” concluded the EU Special Representative.
Background
As reported earlier, Russia has sharply increased trade with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Armenia last year.
In March, Bloomberg reported that the EU planned to reach out to countries that had sharply increased imports of advanced European technology and other goods that Russia could use for its war machine against Ukraine. These countries are Turkey, the UAE, Kazakhstan and other countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
A week later, Reuters reported that Russian companies had in recent weeks flooded their partners from Kazakhstan with requests to help them import necessary goods to circumvent sanctions. This refers to the delivery of a wide variety of products - from phones, electronics and rare earth metals to materials for bank cards.
The Financial Times recently reported that Kazakhstan would start tracking goods that pass through the country for re-export to Russia from April. These measures will be taken against the backdrop of the West's desire to prevent foreign companies and individuals from helping Russia circumvent sanctions, the publication noted.
More recently, The Telegraph, citing a confidential document reported that the EU was discussing plans to introduce restrictive measures against countries that help Russia acquire equipment with “dual-use” technologies. We are talking, in particular, about washing machines, used cars and cameras exported from the EU countries to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
