Putin Blames Kazakh-Russian Border Gridlock on Crackdown Against “Shadow Imports”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attributed the massive traffic jams at the Kazakhstan–Russia border to a campaign targeting undeclared cargo, Orda.kz reports.

Speaking at a press conference in Bishkek, Putin said the queues were caused by random truck inspections ordered at his request.

Our customs authorities within the EAEU have the right to take such actions. They've begun random inspections of trucks on the roads. It turns out that a significant amount of cargo is crossing the border without any documentation at all,
 he explained.

Putin described the situation as “shadow import,” claiming it is costing Russia tens of billions of rubles. He stressed that even with a shared internal market, trucks are still required to carry documentation specifying the recipient, cargo value, and other details needed to calculate VAT.

Some freight, he noted, has now begun moving through an “almost” green corridor, though with at least partial payment.

The president vowed that the backlog would be eliminated by the end of 2025 and that beginning in 2026, vehicles without a full document package would be denied entry, with potential confiscation of their goods.

Earlier, Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin raised the problem with Russian Ambassador Alexey Borodavkin, after Kazakh truck drivers reported being placed on Russia’s “Register of Controlled Persons,” preventing re-entry.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov