Finland’s export of hauler trucks to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan increases

According to Kauppalehti, a newspaper from Finland, the export of trucks to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from Finland has sharply grown over the past year.

What happened? The media outlet discovered that the export of trucks to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan has significantly grown over the past year. The vast majority of these trucks were used semi-trailers, the outlet reported.

Finland exported just seven hauler trucks to Kazakhstan between 2002 and 2022, and 67 trucks over the current year alone. Kyrgyzstan imported 33 hauler trucks from Finland this year, compared to just three trucks over the past 20 years. It’s still unclear who exactly has exported all those hauler trucks to Central Asia via Finland, the outlet underlined.

What is the bottom line of the article? Finnish journalists recalled that there was a shortage of trucks in the Russian army. However, the outlet admitted that it’s very hard to identify the end user of trucks.

The context. Since February 2022, the European Union has imposed sanctions against the export of different types of vehicles, trucks and spare parts to Russia. This is why European and Japanese producers have left the Russian market. For instance, German MAN and Swedish Scania stopped the export of their trucks to Russia in March 2022. In December of that year, both companies sold their stakes to local partners and left Russia completely. With no competition from leading Western companies, Russian truck producers improved their position in the local market, while the role of Chinese companies has significantly grown.

In September 2022, military expert Kyrill Mikhailov said in an interview with Сurrenttime.tv that the Russian army was suffering from a shortage of trucks.

The governments of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan insist that they are very serious when it comes to international sanctions against Russia. However, on July 20, the United States imposed sanctions against four Kyrgyz companies that were accused of illegal exports of electronic components and technologies for recipients in Russia including its defense sector. In an official response, the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan said that neither the Kyrgyz state nor its agencies and companies were involved in illegal exports to Russia, although it promised to investigate the case of illegal exports of electronic products.

Ukraine also noticed sanctions against Kyrgyz companies. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Idris Kadyrkulov, the Kyrgyz ambassador to Kyiv, and declared that Ukraine would qualify Kyrgyzstan’s re-export of sensitive goods to Russia as a hostile action.