European exports to Russia boom again

According to RT on May 1, the German newspaper Die Zeit said that sanctions against Russia are considered one of the main measures to put pressure on Moscow, but customs statistics show that, despite the Ukraine conflict, "European exports to Russia are growing strongly again". "The flow of goods has not dried up but is reaching Russia in other ways, especially through smaller neighboring countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia or the larger neighbor Kazakhstan", Die Zeit said.

EU Customs statistics show that "trade flows are almost undisguised between Russia on the one hand and the major Western industrial countries on the other." Thus, trade between the EU and Armenia from 2021 to 2023 increased by 260% to $2 billion, between the EU and Kyrgyzstan by almost 1,000%, from $0.3 billion to $2.9 billion, and supplies to Kazakhstan doubled to $13 billion.

All this was known to European politicians and officials, according to Die Zeit. A sanctions envoy, Davide O'Sullivan, was sent from Brussels to Central Asia, but "exports have been increasing ever since."

Die Zeit cited an example of German trade with Kyrgyzstan increasing by 1,500% from 2021 to 2023, from $45 million to $772 million. While the largest items are non-military goods, such as furniture, household appliances and cars, there are also components such as motors and electrical equipment, semiconductors and transistors – components of great importance to the Russian defense industry.

According to Die Zeit, Western companies themselves deny these allegations or explain that they cannot track the resale of their goods. Attempts to pressure third countries to resell goods to Russia have also been ineffective. Most of them said they took into account European demands, but stressed that they were not ready to cut off trade relations with Russia./.