Russia, Kazakhstan bilateral trade grows amid West's sanctions on Moscow

The volume of bilateral trade between Russia and Kazakhstan increased by 9% compared to the same period in 2022 and reached almost 716 billion rubles ($8.7 billion) in monetary terms, according to the results of the first four months of this year.

The statement came from Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who said the growth in trade between the two countries occurred against the backdrop of international sanctions against Moscow.

“Last year, mutual trade reached a record level - 2 trillion Russian rubles, ($24.3 billion) or 13 trillion tenges [Kazakh official currency]. In January-April [of 2023], the volume of trade grew by more than 9%, reaching almost 716 billion rubles ($8.7 billion), or 4 trillion tenges," TASS quotes Mishustin as saying during a speech at the opening of a business meeting with the Prime Minister Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.

Amidst the increasing bilateral trade, according to Mishustin, it is important for countries to create new production capacities in the industrial and engineering sectors.

Earlier, the US State Department’s Sanctions Coordinator Jim O’Brien claimed that Russia resumed the imports of key categories of electronics thanks to third countries which resell the hi-tech components after their purchase from European markets.

“Sanctions circumvention remains a ‘substantial problem’,” O’Brien told Politico, adding the US has identified five countries that are involved in the process, including Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, and Türkiye.

Trade between Russia and several countries from the Caucasus and Central Asia close to Moscow — including Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia — has surged since the start of the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to customs records seen by POLITICO.