The forthcoming sanctions package could include more companies from Kazakhstan

David O’Sullivan, the European Union’s special envoy for sanctions, traveled to Kazakhstan on January 30 and said that a new sanctions package could include companies from Kazakhstan. O’Sullivan hinted that Kazakhstani companies could be included for their role in aiding the Russian military.

The EU is readying the 16th package of sanctions against Russia’s military effort against Ukraine, which started as a war of aggression in February 2022.

O’ Sullivan explained that the sanctions list only includes those companies for which "we have indisputable evidence of involvement in sanctions violations."

“Kazakhstani companies were also identified in the course of such an audit. They are included on the list only because they were involved in illicit trade and facilitated, we had evidence, the Russian military-industrial complex,” O’Sullivan told the press.

“These are not extraterritorial sanctions, this is done to ensure compliance with the sanctions that we have imposed.”

Da Group 22, a company based in Kazakhstan, was included in the EU sanctions list last year for supplying microchips to Russia, after a journalistic investigation unveiled the scheme.

O’Sullivan said the EU is worried that Kazakhstan could be used as a front for sanction-busting.

“Some unscrupulous business representatives could see and use Kazakhstan as a platform to circumvent sanctions. By taking advantage of this, they could resell EU-produced goods, particularly high-tech products used in Russian weaponry—such as missiles, drones, and artillery,” O’Sullivan explained.

Власть — это независимое медиа в Казахстане.

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