When Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) visited Uzbekistan last November, she could not praise the country enough. The potential for deepening economic relations was great, and there was talk of a partnership on an equal footing. But the enthusiasm is already over: Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov travelled to the german-Uzbek Economic Forum in Berlin at the beginning of March. The man with the significantly shorter journey, however, canceled: Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) preferred to stay away from the event.
Ilka Kopplin
Business correspondent in Munich.
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Julia Löhr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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Christian Müßgens
Business correspondent in Hamburg.
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Henning Peitsmeier
Business correspondent in Munich.
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Gustav Theile
Business correspondent in Stuttgart.
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Shortly before, Habeck had accused the German companies of circumventing the sanctions against Russia. The background was new figures on German foreign trade. 55 percent more exports to Azerbaijan, 94 percent more to Kazakhstan and 130 percent more to Uzbekistan: these countries, so the tenor, have developed into a hub for sanctioned products.
Habeck now wants to crack down. In future, exports of sanctioned products to certain third countries will only be possible if companies assure that the goods will not subsequently reach Russia. Intentional violations should be punished as a criminal offence.
Washing machines and refrigerators
The trade associations were "not amused" about this announcement. "The submission of the Federal Ministry of Economics would have benefited from a prior clean analysis of the relationships," says Volker Treier, Head of Foreign Trade at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). He explains the increased exports to some Central Asian countries in such a way that they had previously purchased consumer goods or cars from German manufacturers from their Russian plants and now get these products directly from Germany.
"This is not sanctions evasion, but exactly the opposite." The crucial question of whether these countries now export more goods to Russia has not yet been conclusively resolved. Treier considers reports that sanctioned components such as chips for use in Russian military equipment are being removed from non-sanctioned products such as washing machines or refrigerators to be exaggerated. "Russia gets something like this with much less effort, for example from China, the United Arab Emirates or elsewhere."
For companies, the topic is extremely sensitive – and they express themselves so cautiously. If sanctioned products end up in Russia, they are often spare parts and chips that Russian President Putin has installed in his military equipment. Early on, there were indications that Western chips from various manufacturers were identified in Russian tanks or fighter jets in Ukraine.