Minister: Armenia does not want to help Russian companies avoid western sanctions
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YEREVAN, April 21. /ARKA/. Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan denied reports that Armenian companies help Russian partners avoid western sanctions.
The U.S. government launched earlier an interagency initiative to crack down on evasion and violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls targeting Russia and Belarus. It also issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note highlighting evasion tactics to assist the private sector in identifying warning signs and implementing appropriate compliance measures.
"In order to dispel such fears, we are communicating with our partners, and explain them the grounds for the movement of certain goods and we work to make clear whether we are violating the agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). We explain to our partners that the actions of Armenian companies are not aimed at bringing Armenia under secondary sanctions, but simply proceed from the economic essence and their interests," Kerobyan said.
He said the Ministry of Economy is trying to comply with the clauses of the EEU agreement, but in a way that does not bring Armenian companies under secondary western sanctions.
"This does not mean that such a thing is ruled out. You can see that there are companies, the number of which can be counted on the fingers of one hand, which have already fallen under sanctions. We're trying through our tools to maximize the reliability of our companies, but at the same time, I must say that we are pursuing the economic interests of our country, and we can properly explain it to our partners," said the minister.
In response to a question that the bulk of the electronics imported to Armenia is then re-exported to Russia, Kerobyan said that the percentage is high, but the actual amounts are so small that "there is no need to worry about that".
In early April, Armenia-registered Taco LLC was included in the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of Commerce in addition to the sanctions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Taco LLC was designated as the Armenian partner of Russia's Radioavtomatika LLC (a supplier of electronic component base.
In November 2022, Milur Electronics LLC was designated as Armenia-based affiliate of Russian Milandr. The company was said to serve Milandr in a variety of ways by placing orders from foreign factories, producing microchips, and conducting overseas sales. Milur Electronics was essentially a front company for Milandr, the Treasury said, and was used to conduct business with foreign partners on its Russian partner’s behalf. --0—
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