Kommersant: Armenia and Kazakhstan began to block payment for  supply  of electronics to Russia

ArmInfo.Banks in a number of countries, due to the risk of sanctions, began to block payments for the supply of  electronics for legal entities from Russia. Suppliers are trying to import electronics under other commodity codes and are looking for other payment methods. The Kommersant newspaper writes.

In the past two weeks, suppliers have increasingly encountered cases  when banks in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong block payments from  Russian legal entities under the commodity nomenclature of foreign  economic activity (TN VED) 8542, which includes microcircuits,  processors and other equipment.  According to one of the  interlocutors of the newspaper, this is due to the tenth package of  US sanctions introduced in February. According to him, foreign banks  may be subject to restrictions for cooperation with Russia. This  refers to any provision of funds, goods or services to or from a  blocked person.  As noted by the source of the publication, now  Russian companies will have to import components needed for the  production of computers, servers, data storage systems (SHD) and  other equipment, under the "alternative" TN VED codes. Or they will  have to supply the equipment "entirely assembled" Another source  claims that payment is also blocked for the supply of the latest  generation of telecommunications equipment, as well as storage  systems and servers.

The Central Bank of Russia explained that "compliance procedures for  specific foreign banks depend on their internal policies and in  different periods can be characterized by varying degrees of  rigidity." The head of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and  Entrepreneurs, Vitaly Mankevich, said in an interview with the  publication that partners from Hong Kong characterize the situation  as difficult. At the same time, another interlocutor noted that not  all Armenian or Hong Kong banks are blocking payments yet, and  suppliers themselves are starting to use "other methods of making  payments." The above-mentioned package of sanctions was presented by  the USA on February 24, one year after the start of Russia's special  operation in Ukraine. 11 Russian mid-level banks, including regional  ones, fell under the restriction. The US Treasury said the sanctioned  entities are "turning to smaller banks" and asset managers in an  attempt to circumvent the restrictions.

The Russian authorities consider the Western sanctions illegal and  say that they will harm only their initiators. At the same time, no,  "even the toughest sanctions" have ever led to "countries somehow  changing their position", the Kremlin stressed. The Wall Street  Journal wrote that in 2022 a number of post-Soviet countries,  including Armenia and Kazakhstan, increased imports of goods from the  EU and the US, and also increased exports to Russia in parallel. The  EU considers this a sign of sanctions circumvention.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the threat of  falling under Western sanctions is a red line for Yerevan in  relations with Moscow. < Sanctions are our red lines. And we are  clearly telling this to the Russians: 'we don't want to hurt you, but  we can't afford to come under sanctions ourselves>, he explained. A  similar position is held by the President of Kazakhstan,  Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Last summer, he said that he did not renounce  allied obligations with respect to Russia, but noted that "sanctions  are sanctions" and Kazakhstan will not violate them.