Kazakhstan and the U.S. to discuss sanctions

Elizabeth Rosenberg, the Assistant Secretary for terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is expected to come to Kazakhstan on April 23 on a three-day official visit. According to Aybek Smadiyarov, the official spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is nothing bad in a visit of such an envoy. In fact, it is a good sign that the two countries have this format of relations.

«We are in constant contact with the U.S. and European countries regarding the matter of sanctions. The Ministry of National Economy, which is the authorized body in this sphere, can provide more details. This issue had been discussed with State Secretary Antony Blinken when he visited Kazakhstan earlier this year. American experts have been consulting our companies in order to help them not be targeted by sanctions,» he said.

The Russian news agency TASS reported that the U.S. official representative is going to visit Kazakhstan and several other countries to discuss sanctions against Russia. Brian Nelson, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence will visit Switzerland (April 16-18), Italy (April 19), Austria (April 20-21) and Germany (April 21-22). Apart from Kazakhstan, Rosenberg is also visiting Kyrgyzstan on April 27-28

In February 2023, the E.U. expanded sanctions against Russia until February 24, 2024. The sanctions have been imposed against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

In 2022, Kazakhstan’s re-export of various goods to Russia significantly increased. In response to this, the U.S. Department of Commerce has put Kazakhstan on the list of countries through which E.U.-made goods are re-exported to Russia.

At the time, Timur Suleymenov, deputy head of the President’s Office, told Euractive that Kazakhstan would prefer to avoid sanctions and wanted to expand its cooperation with the E.U.