The European Parliament's Foreign Committee chair David McAllister has urged Kyrgyzstan to ensure compliance with international sanctions against Russia amid growing concerns countries in Central Asia are being used to bypass the measures.
"International sanctions are aimed not at Kyrgyzstan but at aggressor countries such as Russia and Belarus. We understand Kyrgyzstan's situation and its involvement in organizations like the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)," McAllister said during a visit to Bishkek on August 24, where he met with President Sadyr Japarov.
SEE ALSO: Kyrgyz, Kazakh Companies Send Western Tech To Firms Linked To Kremlin War Machine"However, we condemn any country's efforts to evade these sanctions, including the illicit export and import of goods on the sanctions list," he added.
The European Union (EU) has expressed concerns about the increasing demand for EU products from Russia's neighboring countries, including Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as other nations maintaining trade relationships with Moscow, such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and China.
In response to Russia's actions in initiating the war in Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, and several other countries have imposed sanctions against Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Signs the sanctions were being circumventedprompted the United States in July to introduce further sanctions that target 18 individuals and over 120 entities located in both Russia and Kyrgyzstan. These sanctions were designed to hinder Moscow's access to products and technology supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine.
Among the entities were several based in Kyrgyzstan that the U.S. Treasury Department identified as intermediaries facilitating the provision of foreign-made electronics and technologies to Russia. These recent sanctions add to the broader international measures imposed on Russia.