U.S. imposes sanctions against Kazakhstani company for its illegal exports to Russia

KBR-Technologii, LLC was involved in supplying various components for drones / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Arthur Aleskerov

The U.S. government has put KBR-Technologii from Kazakhstan on its sanction list, accusing it of illegally supplying drone components to Russia. These dual-use goods were exported from Kazakhstan to Russia via Belarus, according to some media reports.

Interestingly enough, the company sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Treasury Department (OFAC) was established on May 13, 2022, just a few months after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was registered in North Kazakhstan, which is very close to Russia.

However, a registration number mentioned by OFAC indicates another company called MJ QAZAQ TRANS. It was established in Almaty on May 13, 2022, by Marat Abishev and is engaged in cargo transportation. The company’s CEO is Daulet Malik.

The OFCA data matches with eGov.kz information only if the full name of KBR-Technologii is searched. Thus, we found that the company was established on May 13 in the town of Petropavlovsk (60 kilometers away from the Russian border) and was re-registered on May 21, 2024. The current head of KBR-Technologii is Dias Tugunbayev, although a couple of days before the re-registration its director was Dmitry Gaikovich.

The core activity of KBR-Technologii is quite vague, according to what can be found in open sources. It’s «wholesale trade with a wide range of goods» with no specification of what kind of products these are.

Figures in registration numbers of MJ QAZAQ TRANS and sanctioned KBR-Technologii are nearly the same except for just one digit.

In February 2024, Verstka Media, the Russian independent media outlet, already reported about the role KBR-Technologii played in an illegal network supplying equipment for combat drone production to Russia via Belarus.

At the time, the EU and the U.S. imposed sanctions against Elem Group and Da Group 22, also registered in Kazakhstan, due to their close ties with Russia. In turn, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade said that it knew about the upcoming sanctions. Moreover, it pointed out that both companies stopped their import and export activities in May and June 2023, respectively.