The Russian military industry and army continue to receive drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) and electronic components necessary to continue the war in Ukraine, thanks to the support of Kazakhstan and other allied countries, according to a survey conducted by the digital portal Vazhniye Istorii ( ISTories) together with the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.
“The figures show that Kazakhstan is helping Russia to evade sanctions” imposed by the West for invading neighboring Ukraine in February last year and waging an offensive war there for nearly 15 months, the study said.
The research shows that “since the beginning of the Russian invasion, imports of microelectronics from Kazakhstan have more than doubled”.
“According to the National Institute of Statistics of Kazakhstan, the country imported USD 35 million worth of ‘microchips’ in 2021 (32.3 million euros, about the same as in previous years), while in 2022 these imports exceeded 75 million. dollars (69.3 million euros),” the portal said.
Vazhniye Istorii indicated that Kazakh exports of ‘microchips’ to Russia in 2021 amounted to “245,000 dollars (226,500 euros), in 2022 already 18 million dollars (16.6 million euros)”.
“The same situation is observed with ‘drones’: in 2021 the Kazakhstani National Institute of Statistics did not even mention ‘drones’ in its import and export report; in 2022 Kazakhstan imported ‘drones’ worth five million dollars (4.6 million euros) and 1.2 million dollars (1.1 million euros) worth of ‘drones’ exported to Russia,” the study emphasizes.
According to the digital portal Vazhniye Istorii, the Kazakh company Aspan Arba sent more than 500 “drones” to Russia in 2022, although according to its profile, it should supply this type of equipment to Kazakhstan’s steel industry, agriculture and emergency services.
The Kazakh company sent these “drones” to the Russian company Nebesnaya Mekhanica (Celestial Mechanics), both linked by their respective directors – Ilya Goldberg and Mikhail Sapozhnikov – as the former owner of Nebesnaya Mekhanica was one of the founders of Aspan Arba, led by by the second and in turn Sapozhnikov, director of the Kazakh company, was previously a co-owner of the Russian company.
According to the import circuits revealed by Vazhniye Istorii, the Chinese DJI “drones” that get their hands on the Russian army are bought in China by the Dutch company DJI Europe BV, which exports them to Kazakhstan, from where they are sent to Russia.
The ‘microchips’ that the German distributor Ellix-Sit has bought from several European manufacturers are in turn following a similar route to reach Russia, via Kazakhstan.
Aware of this situation, the European Union (EU) today urged the countries of Central Asia – including Kazakhstan – not to allow Russia to use their territory and companies to evade Western sanctions and pledged support to mitigate the impact of the war Moscow is waging in Ukraine may affect its economies.
“Our aim is to weaken and ultimately stop the Russian war machine. And the EU takes very seriously the prevention of sanctions evasion,” said European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis at the II Forum EU-Central Asia Economic Conference, held in Almaty.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which today entered its 450th day, 8,836 civilian deaths and 14,985 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
Source: DN
