Foreign Ministry allowed some Central Asian countries to join anti-Russian sanctions

A number of Central Asian countries have made it clear that they are not ready to take risks, in this regard, they may join the sanctions against Russia. This statement was made by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin at the III Central Asian Conference of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

“Despite the coincidence of positions regarding the unacceptability and illegitimacy of unilateral economic restrictions, a number of Central Asian countries nevertheless do not want to take on the corresponding risks, they make it clear that they are ready to follow Western restrictive measures,” he said (quote according to TASS).

Galuzin added that Russia does not dictate what foreign and domestic policy other countries should follow, if “this does not run counter to mutual obligations, including those of the CSTO, the EAEU and the CIS.” According to the diplomat, the “artificial destruction” of ties with Russia could result in “heavier damage” than the consequences of secondary sanctions. He added that Russia is determined to strengthen cooperation with the countries of Central Asia.

The day before, May 15, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan declaredthat the threat of sanctions is a red line for the republic in relations with Russia. “Sanctions are a red line. And we say this clearly to the Russians: we do not want to harm you, but we ourselves cannot afford to fall under the sanctions,” he stressed.

Against the backdrop of the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the US and the EU imposed large-scale sanctions against the Russian Federation, which affected many sectors of the economy, including energy, the high-tech sector, aviation, the banking industry, the mining industry, the automotive industry, etc.

Restrictions also affected the supply of a number of Western goods. In response, Russia allowed the use of the parallel import mechanism – the importation of original goods into the country without the permission of the copyright holder or manufacturer. At the same time, imports of such products from Russia’s neighboring countries increased. In December 2022, the volume of parallel imports exceeded $20 billion, declared in the FTS.

In April, the US Department of Commerce introduced restrictions, including against companies from Armenia and Uzbekistan “for trying to evade export controls.”

May 10 Reuters, citing sources wrotethat the European Commission (EC), as part of the discussion of a new package of sanctions against Russia, proposed to impose restrictions on “dozens” of companies from China, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in order to exclude the re-export of sanctioned goods to the Russian Federation. Then the Financial Times reportedthat after February 2022, under the pretext of transit to other countries, including Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, goods worth $ 2 billion were imported from the EU to Russia. At the same time, about half of them did not reach their destination, the newspaper claimed.