Expert from Charles University: Almost every European country indirectly exports to Russia
Prague – Almost every European country indirectly exports to Russia; the circumvention of anti-Russian sanctions does not only concern the Czech Republic or Germany, said Karel Svoboda from the Institute of International Studies at Charles University in Prague to ČTK today. According to him, this is evidenced by exports to Turkey and Central Asian states, which have significantly increased since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) informed ČTK today that it has not yet received a list of companies from Ukraine that would be involved in the production of weapons by supplying machines to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in recent days that some companies, including Czech and German ones, are still supplying Russia with machines for weapon production and called for sanctions against these companies. According to Zelensky, this includes 13 German and eight Czech companies, but he did not name them. The MPO announced on Saturday that it would investigate the situation regarding possible circumvention of sanctions.
“This is by no means just a matter for the Czech Republic; it concerns almost every European country,” said Svoboda regarding the circumvention of anti-Russian sanctions. “If we look at exports to Turkey or Kyrgyzstan and similar countries, they have absolutely skyrocketed after 2022. The graphs are radically different from the situation before,” he added. According to him, a typical transit destination for goods is Turkey or Central Asian countries, as they are geographically close to Russia.
According to Svoboda, it is not very realistic that a company would be unaware of re-exports to Russia. “If they wanted to know where the goods are going, they would not be satisfied with just a guarantee of the final delivery; they would really track down where the goods are. Sending one person there to see where the goods are is not that difficult,” he believes.
According to Miluše Trefancová from the press department, the MPO has not yet received a list of companies that would be involved in the production of weapons by supplying machines to Russia. “For completeness, I add that the MPO does not comment on specific cases related to foreign trade in sensitive materials due to the protection of the security and foreign policy interests of the Czech Republic,” she stated. (June 23)
