US and UK warn Kazakhstan about risk of secondary sanctions
According to Elizabeth Rosenberg, the Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Matthew S. Axelrod, the Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce and David Reed, Director for Sanctions at the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the United States and the U.K. can impose secondary sanctions against Kazakhstan if they decide the country illegally assists Russia.
«Russia is trying to evade export controls and sanctions to obtain the goods and components that this country needs to modernize its military capabilities. One way to do this is to ship these goods through third countries. I would like to make it clear that the supply of such items and goods to the territory of Russia through the territory of Kazakhstan is a direct violation of export controls, as well as the laws of the United States of America,» Axelrod said.
According to Rosenberg, Russian intelligence has been actively searching for new routes to import dual-use goods into Russia.
«The risks of restrictions are growing because Kazakhstani business helps Russia evade sanctions,» she said.
She also noted that the point is not «iPhones or washing machines» but dual-use goods that might be used for military purposes, including computer chips, as well as elements used in integrated electronic systems.
«Usually, they have been doing such shady transactions through sham companies with no physical address,» Axelrod highlighted.
The government of Kazakhstan fully understands the importance of the matter as well as the urgency and importance of restrictions the West has imposed on Russia, the official underlined.
Kazakhstan has become one of the major routes for parallel import of goods no longer available in Russia as foreign companies and suppliers have left Russia. Some media sources reported a threefold increase in the purchase of fridges in Europe by Kazakhstani businesses and a fivefold increase in the purchase of breast pumps. Given that there is a decline in the birth rate in Kazakhstan, this raises some questions in Western countries.
