The United States has notified the five Central Asian republics of exactly what steps are expected of them in terms of compliance with U.S. sanctions against Russia. The Coordinator for Sanctions Policy of the USA, James O’Brien, announced on Wednesday at the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate.
According to EurAsia Daily, he recalled that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting last week with the Foreign Ministers of five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
«We have provided them with guidance on how to adhere to our sanctions. We have outlined specific concerns. We will have further conversations with them about what exactly they can do. We are working with them to provide with [other] options, whether it be physical alternative routes [to transport their products to world markets bypassing Russia] or other ways to develop cash investments,» the U.S. sanctions policy coordinator said.
All of these states will be happy to have alternatives to the relationship they previously had with Moscow. We will continue to work in this direction.
James O’Brien
As the USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Anjali Kaur said on September 14, Washington sees the goal of its Central Asian policy as decoupling the region’s economies from Russia’s. USAID is part of the Department of State.
