The Washington Post says that the Biden administration is preparing new economic measures to put pressure on the country to stop trade with Russia.
The United States is preparing sanctions against Kyrgyzstan, which supplies Russia with sub-sanctioned equipment and electronics: drones, optical sights and parts for bombs. This is reported by The Washington Post, citing its own sources.
The Biden administration is concerned about the role played by Kyrgyzstan, media reports. It now houses numerous factories that have become a conduit for Western and Asian goods that Russia cannot legally obtain anywhere.
After months of fruitless visits by US and European diplomats to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, the Biden administration is preparing new economic measures to put pressure on the country to cut off trade with Russia, the newspaper reported.
Sanctions or a blacklist of companies accused of violations could be adopted as early as this week, two anonymous US officials said.
“Kyrgyzstan, although small compared to other countries, is a prime example of all factors acting simultaneously to create an environment conducive to avoiding (sanctions, -),” the report says.
Available trade documents show the extent of the Kyrgyz shadow market. Kyrgyzstan’s total exports to the Russian Federation skyrocketed by 250% in 2022 compared to the previous year before the invasion of Ukraine. Some of the goods, for example, optical sights, Kyrgyzstan has never exported to Russia before.
Kyrgyz companies also previously carried out bulk purchases of sensitive electronics: specialized semiconductors and voltage amplifiers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Chinese and South Korean companies. The same amount of the same types of electronics was exported from Kyrgyzstan to Russia during the same period, according to the documents.
In addition, the Russian firms receiving the goods were, in most cases, well-known suppliers to the Russian defense industry.
The apparent consistency of transactions with third parties was seen as the work of Russian intelligence agencies, which are now directly involved in schemes aimed at circumventing economic sanctions, the publication adds.
As we already wrote, the Japanese government is considering imposing additional economic sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.
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