/ world today news/ Not in words, but in action, the development of retaliatory measures must be started!
The European Union cannot agree on a new package of sanctions against Russia, Josep Borrell complained on April 24. “Some countries are expressing what they think should be in it, like sanctions on diamonds. Others, on the contrary, say that diamonds are more likely not to be directly affected. Therefore, I believe that the matter will be closed no earlier than the second half of May.
It is impossible to expect anything sooner,” said Zbigniew Rau, the head of Polish diplomacy after the meeting of the “Council of Foreign Ministers of the EU”. It is possible that, in addition to diamonds, there are disagreements regarding Rosatom.
The 11th package, as Ursula von der Leyen said, is supposed to be targeted “mainly to the fight against circumvention of restrictions – to closing loopholes for re-export“. The preamble of the document under discussion explicitly notes the need “to give a clear signal to natural and legal persons in third countries; material support for the Russian army and the defense industry of the Russian Federation will have serious consequences affecting the access of third countries to the EU market.
Restrictive and, in some cases, prohibitive measures are foreseen for trade, investments, including interbank, and in some cases, humanitarian cooperation. From the fall of 2022 to January 2023, joint commissions of the USA and the EU have been established to monitor the financial and economic relations of all Central Asian countries and about twenty other countries with Russia for their possible inclusion in parallel (secondary) sanctions.
The list of possible targets includes Turkey, Kazakhstan, Arab countries. Since April 12, three Uzbek enterprises cooperating with Russia have been under US sanctions, including the Akhangarancement city-building cement plant controlled by Akkermann Cement CA, created by a structure from Alisher Usmanov’s USM holding.
Companies that want to avoid the US restrictions must limit all operations with Akhangarancement by July 11. According to Bakhtiyor Ergashev, director of the Mano Center for Research Initiatives, such actions are aimed at “destruction of Uzbekistan’s economic ties with Russia… then, it seems, sanctions for cooperation with China are also possible.”
In all stages of the sanctions pressure on Moscow, the United Kingdom, which previously left the EU, actively participated in them with its 11 foreign protectorates, of which 8 are “offshore-re-export”. Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, as well as Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein joined the sanctions.
The proposed new anti-re-export package also includes European territories with autonomous customs and economic status, which for now allows them to carry out re-export operations and transit transactions (the northern Moroccan enclaves of Spain, the Portuguese islands of Madeira and Selvagens, the Danish Faroe Islands and Greenland, some areas in Greece , the German island of Heligoland, the East Caribbean Autonomies of the Netherlands).
In America, the financial intelligence, planning and implementation of economic and trade sanctions is entrusted to a division of the US Treasury Department known as the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), whose strategic tasks are determined by the White House .
Recently, there have been reports from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Estonia and other countries of hundreds of inspections for potential violations of the sanctions regime on goods subject to export controls, with the prospect of criminal proceedings. The trend is likely to increase, but as today’s standard schemes are identified, new ones will be invented.
In the words of Ivan Timofeev, the general director of the RSMD, manufacturers in friendly countries, working on American or European equipment or using technologies and software from the USA or the EU, “at the very least, they will be limited in supplying their products to Russian customers” .
Even more serious consequences are “prosecuting sanctions circumvention and third-party supply’; The relevant Western, especially American, institutions have learned over the years to uncover such schemes, stopping attempts by Iran, North Korea and other countries (Myanmar, Sudan, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Libya, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Grenada, etc.) to circumvent of the sanctions imposed against them, and, therefore, “it can certainly be expected that measures to close loopholes and circumvention schemes will be repeatedly strengthened.’
A characteristic touch: Western countries have not taken any deterrent measures against South Africa and Southern Rhodesia for decades, since the 1950s, equipping the racist regimes ruling there with advanced technology and weapons through re-exports. Subject to UN sanctions until the abolition of apartheid in these countries (in 1994 and 1980 respectively), South Africa and Southern Rhodesia repeatedly invaded Angola, Mozambique and Pretoria, refused to de-occupy neighboring Namibia …
It appears that the Eurasian Economic Commission (the permanent regulatory body of the EAEU) is to develop collective countermeasures against tightening Western “re-export” sanctions, but so far nothing is known about such work.
Russia-friendly southern neighbors are doing their best to avoid secondary Western sanctions while trying not to lose the advantage due to their newfound role as conduits for Russian re-exports.
As the FT notes, over the past year Russia’s trade with some countries has increased by 60-80%, and many of the goods supplied to Russia contain dual-use components. By the end of March, almost all commercial banks in Kyrgyzstan were considered as candidates for inclusion in the regularly updated SDN – lists, listing the individuals and legal entities falling under restrictions.
It is known that the authorities of the Republic of Armenia are under active pressure, having the opportunity to report an unprecedented economic growth of 12.6% in 2022, not least thanks to the growth of trade with Russia and the relocation of relocators.
When importing and exporting goods to Russia, Armenia is guided by the EAEU rules, there are no other restrictions on these operations, the Republic’s State Revenue Committee assures. However, the arm-twisting will continue: according to the publication Hraparak, during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent visit to Berlin, he received “persistent warnings’ to stop parallel imports to Russia.
No less active work is carried out in Central Asia. The United States is ready to help Kazakhstan enforce anti-Russian sanctions and minimize the economic consequences of such a policy for the country, as noted in a report published by the US Treasury Department after a visit to Kazakhstan on April 23-26 by representatives of the Ministry of finance and the Ministry of Commerce.
On April 12, the Chairman of the EEC Council, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk held the first meeting of the Organizing Committee of the Eurasian Economic Forum, which will be held in Moscow on May 24-25. The concept of the event was approved, current areas of interaction within the EAEU were identified (scientific and technical cooperation, financial sector, industry and agro-industrial complex, climate program, energy, technical regulation and veterinary medicine, development of the internal market of the Union, e-commerce , customs regulation, regional cooperation, public procurement, statistics).
„The theme of the upcoming Eurasian Economic Forum is defined as “Eurasian integration in a multipolar world”… The purpose of the forum is to promote the idea of the Union as an integration union in the multipolar world and to improve cooperation ties in the Eurasian space. noted A. Overchuk.
It is unlikely that at this and other similar events the subject of “sanctions” will be swept under the carpet. Therefore, without postponing the issue, in close cooperation with EAEU partners and other friendly countries, the Russian side should start developing the necessary measures in response to the West’s destructive policy, not in words, but in deeds. The practical implementation of this task will strengthen the interest of Moscow’s partners in further political and economic cooperation with our country.
Translation: EU
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