The administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing new economic restrictive measures against Kyrgyzstan to force the country to stop trading with Russia in sanctioned goods.
This was reported by The Washington Post with reference to American officials.
According to interlocutors of the publication, new restrictions against Kyrgyzstan may be introduced this week.
"Kyrgyzstan, despite being small compared to other countries, is a prime example of how all factors work together to create an unacceptable environment conducive to sanctions evasion," a senior official said.
Publicly available trade documents show that the total volume of Kyrgyzstan's exports to Russia increased sharply in 2022 - by 250% compared to the previous year, before the invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, exports from Kyrgyzstan to Russia of some goods, such as sights for rifles, did not happen before.
In addition, trade documents between the countries also show that Kyrgyz companies purchased electronics — including hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of specialized semiconductors and power amplifiers — from Chinese and South Korean companies in February and March. Almost the same amount of the same types of electronics was exported from Kyrgyzstan to Russia during the same period.
The Russian firms that received the goods are, in most cases, well-known suppliers of the Russian defense industry.
As reported, in May, the US Department of Commerce added a company from Kyrgyzstan to the "black list" for supporting Russia.
