Sky News’ narrative of the ineffectiveness of Western sanctions

Sky News wrote in an analysis: It seems that despite the Western sanctions, after the attack on Ukraine, British car manufacturers continue to sell their luxury cars worth hundreds of millions of pounds to Russia. They give.

This English media added: England continues to sell its cars to Russia through the former countries of the former Soviet Union.

This report added: While the direct export of British cars to Russia after the attack on Ukraine in 2022 reached zero, this decrease has been accompanied by an increase in car exports to Russia’s neighboring countries, especially the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Sky News wrote: Our analysis, which is based on the official trade data of the British HMRC, shows that the UK exported cars worth 273 million pounds to the Republic of Azerbaijan last year. This shows an increase of 1,860 percent compared to the five-year period before the attack on Ukraine.

According to this media, the increase in exports to the Republic of Azerbaijan was not only unprecedented, but it was equal to the annual car exports to Russia in the two years before the imposition of sanctions, worth approximately 330 million pounds.

In addition to the statistics of the Royal Revenue and Customs Organization of England, Sky News analysis of the international trade data of the United Nations also shows that in the same period that Britain recorded an unprecedented increase in car exports to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku also recorded an unprecedented increase in car exports. to Russia.

The latest data is in line with Sky News sources who claim that while buyers of Russian cars from Germany mainly send them through Kyrgyzstan, they often prefer to use Azerbaijan as a route for sending British cars. do.

British car manufacturers claim that they no longer sell cars to Russia. Government data collected by the British Royal Revenue and Customs on goods cleared from this country show that these cars have reached the destination of Russia. It is impossible to trace any shipment from the UK once it has left the port, especially once it has reached a third country.

However, the British government is concerned about the existence of a gray zone whereby goods may be sent to Russia via the former Soviet Union countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The car is among the items banned from Russia under the so-called “dual-use” sanctions. There is a specific ban on the sale of luxury cars – which are worth more than £42,000 – to Russia.

Sanctions experts say that part of the problems in preventing the flow of goods to Russia through third countries is that it is very difficult and sometimes almost impossible to track these shipments after entering other countries.

Sky News has mentioned in a part of its report: In general, car exports to Azerbaijan are prominent in the country’s trade statistics. Within a few years, this country, which has a population of 10 million and whose GDP is the size of Ghana, has become the 16th largest export destination for the British automotive industry, surpassing Austria, Portugal and Sweden.

The media previously reported that many other banned items, including those repurposed as weapons, were sent to former Soviet states in the Caucasus and Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. All these countries have recorded a sharp increase in their exports to Russia.