Yuri Kobzar19:30, 04.05.23

Formally, Kazakhstan is the main military and economic ally of Russia along with Belarus.

Kazakhstan blocked the channel of ” parallel imports ” to Russia. Earlier, the main flow of sanctioned goods went through the country, Izvestia writes .

“The country creates difficulties at the border for such products, the border was actually closed to suppliers,” Vladimir Matyagin, head of the Gruzavtotrans association, told the publication.

According to him, now the transport carrying the “sanctions” to Russia is forced to bypass Kazakhstan, the supply channels are redirected through China, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

According to The Moscow Times , at the beginning of May, an American delegation led by Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Elizabeth Rosenberg visited Kazakhstan. They held a series of meetings with government officials and business representatives, during which they warned of secondary sanctions for helping the Russian Federation to circumvent sanctions.

“The US signal seems to have been heard in Astana,” the newspaper writes.

Sanctions against Russia – latest news

A new package of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation will be presented to member countries next week . This means that in theory it can be approved before the end of May.

According to Bloomberg, the key goal of the new measures is to close loopholes in previously imposed sanctions and solve the problem of circumventing them. The US and Japan are preparing their own sanctions packages.

(C)UNIAN 2023