Goods worth more than $1 billion from the countries of the European Union, which are subject to sanctions, disappeared during transit to Russia's economic partners, and probably entered the Russian economy.
The Financial Times writes about it.
Open data analyzed by the publication showed that only about half of the $2 billion worth of controlled "dual-use" goods sent from the EU actually reached their declared destinations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
These goods, which the EU believes can be used by military or intelligence services and are subject to export controls, could have entered Russia directly from the European Union under the pretext that they were only in transit.
A disproportionately large share of "phantom" exports that never reached their official destination came from the Baltic states bordering Russia and Belarus.
The goods were shipped in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when the EU's sensitive trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia – three former Soviet republics now in an economic union with Russia – rose to unprecedented levels.
Discrepancies in the records suggest that Russia evaded the sanctions by using intermediaries, agents or suppliers who provided false destinations on EU customs declarations. This method has helped Moscow maintain access to critical European products, including aircraft components, optical equipment and gas turbines.
For some specific categories of goods, including gas turbines, soldering irons and radio broadcasting equipment, almost none of the goods sent from the EU reached their destination, according to import data.
This underscores the difficulty of efforts to block Russia's access to sensitive goods, even if those goods are subject to agreed G7 restrictions.
It will be recalled that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday in Kyiv that the new sanctions will be aimed at combating the circumvention of already introduced trade restrictions and will be developed "in very close coordination" with the G7 countries.
