Russia attempts to circumvent sanctions using third countries – intelligence
Sunday, 1 May 2022, 09:20 – Oleksiy Pavlysh
The Russian Federation is attempting to involve third countries to order to mitigate the consequences of the economic sanctions. According to information available to Ukraine’s intelligence services, the government is planning to organise production of military equipment on the territories of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation Member States.
Source: Main Department of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Telegram
The sanctions imposed on Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 have severely affected its economy. The sectors which depend on foreign technologies and parts have suffered the most.
"To avoid the sanctions, Russia, having close ties as part of economic and other associations and treaties, is attempting to involve third countries," – state the Ukrainian intelligence services. The plans, according to them, also involve increasing economic dependency on Russia among the CSTO Member States.
Furthermore, Ukrainian intelligence alleges that Moscow is negotiating re-export deals with Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan for the sale of Russian goods to international markets.
"The [goods] are planned to be supplied as if they were Georgian-, Armenian-, and Azerbaijani-produced, and exported to third countries. Over 200 companies have already been created in these countries [for this purpose]."
"Armenia is creating a favourable environment for Russian business companies, primarily in the tech sector. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine, some 85 thousand Russian nationals and 113 tech companies have relocated to Armenia. Russian citizens have created over a thousand private enterprises and over 250 joint stock companies in Armenia that will pay taxes to both states – Armenia and Russia."
Ukrainian intelligence services add that the leading Russian producer of anti-aircraft systems, the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant, is working with Kazakhstan to obtain German-made parts for its production lines.
Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, Russia was procuring parts from Germany for the production/modernisation of its Buk and Tunguska rocket launchers. However, the supply of these parts halted due to sanctions.
Read also: No "Armat", navigation systems, or drones: How sanctions are demilitarising Russia
Background:
Earlier, the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said that Russia had paused the production of rocket launchers and was sending defence plant staff on leave or to fight.
Shipyards in Russia are unable to build vessels due to the lack of foreign-made parts and funding.
The Collective Security Treaty Organisation is an intergovernmental military alliance between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.