EU to impose sanctions against Kazakhstan for re-export of banned products to Russia for the first time

The EU countries are considering the possibility of using sanctions against Kazakhstan for the first time to circumvent their sanctions, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the preparation of a new package of restrictive measures.

The blacklist may also include companies from other countries, in particular China, and new types of products that could be supplied to the Russian military-industrial complex.

Secondary sanctions and duties are one of the tools that the EU is discussing with the United States, Bloomberg sources say. According to them, the bloc hopes to coordinate some of its new measures with Washington. This week, a delegation of EU officials will travel there to discuss joint actions with their counterparts from the White House. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also advocated coordination. “We are ready to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our partners in Europe to follow us,” he told NBC on Sunday.

Kazakhstan could fall under such secondary measures. In this case, the EU will ban the supply of certain types of equipment and machinery to the country, which, according to the bloc’s trade data, are still being redirected in large quantities to Russia, where they are used to produce weapons. Following the introduction of Western sanctions, the CIS countries have become one of the main centers for re-exporting banned products to Russia.

Among other measures being considered for inclusion in the EU sanctions package are restrictive measures against banks and oil companies, including the abolition of some exemptions that are currently in effect for some of them, such as Rosneft. The EU already dealt an additional blow to it in July, when, as part of the 18th sanctions package, it banned the import of petroleum products made from Russian oil and blacklisted the company Nayara Energy, which was engaged in this. It owns one of the largest refineries in India and is controlled by Rosneft and the Russian investment fund United Capital Partners.

An extension of the ban on the export of goods and chemicals that could be used in the Russian military industry and trade restrictions on foreign companies, including Chinese ones, supplying these goods are also being considered.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the new package will supplement sanctions against Russian shadow fleet vessels, oil traders in third countries, and may introduce a ban on reinsurance of tankers seen helping Russia.