Central Asian Countries and EU Agree to Oppose Russia's Attempts to Circumvent Sanctions

Foreign ministers of the Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – have agreed to continue cooperation with EU countries to combat Russia's attempts to circumvent sanctions. 

The joint statement of the parties, which was published by the press service of the EU Council following the meeting, states that the EU has informed Central Asian countries of the 11 packages of restrictive measures it has adopted so far and stressed the importance of result-oriented dialogue and cooperation in the context of EU sanctions regimes. 

"The EU stressed the need to cooperate effectively on preventing circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia through Central Asian territories," the statement said. 

The European Union also highly appreciated the cooperation with Kazakhstan in the fight against circumvention of sanctions, and emphasised the importance of continuing efforts aimed at stopping the re-export of joint priority goods. 

Earlier, representatives of foreign ministries and customs authorities of the EU states bordering Russia held a second meeting in Vilnius dedicated to the coordinated implementation of sanctions against Russia.

The first meeting of the six EU member states bordering Russia took place at the end of May. 

Then, they agreed to coordinate border control in order to prevent further evasion of sanctions and the illegal importing of prohibited goods into Russian territory. 

Vilnius has been asking the European Union for sanctions due to the fact that wine is supplied to Russia through Lithuania.