Latvian Authorities Claim to Have Uncovered Sanctions Evasion Schemes Involving Central Asia

Latvia’s financial intelligence service has identified around 400 cases of sanctions evasion, with Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries frequently used to re-export goods to Russia and Belarus, Orda.kz reports, citing LSM.

According to authorities, private companies formally declared shipments to Central Asia, but once across the border, the goods were redirected to Russia and Belarus.

Most violations occurred at the Latvian border.

Our goal is not to restrict legal trade between Latvia and Central Asia — on the contrary, we aim to strengthen it. But the use of these countries in sanctions evasion schemes is not uncommon,
 said Paulis Iljenkovs, head of Latvia’s financial intelligence unit.

He added that Latvian banks have effectively prevented sanctions violations due to strict monitoring mechanisms.

Earlier, an individual arrested in Estonia was found to have supplied banned equipment to Russia via Kazakhstan.

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