CW is about to warn one BRICS+ member to refrain from doing biz with another BRICS+ member. Must not have gotten the newest office memo
wsj.com
Western Officials Plan to Warn U.A.E. Over Trade With Russia
Requests to stop exporting items that can be used in war against Ukraine have been largely ignored, Western officials say
Updated Sept. 4, 2023 at 3:12 pm ET
U.A.E. President Mohamed bin Zayed, wearing a dark robe, attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum earlier this year. Photo: Mohamed Al Hammadi / UAE Presidential COURT/via REUTERS
U.S., U.K. and European Union officials plan to jointly press the United Arab Emirates this week to halt shipments of goods to Russia that could help Moscow in its war against Ukraine, according to U.S. and European officials.
Officials from Washington and European capitals are visiting the U.A.E. from Monday as part of a collective global push to keep computer chips, electronic components and other so-called dual-use products, which have both civilian and military applications, out of Russian hands.
The U.A.E., along with most other non-Group-of-Seven countries, has declined to join in sanctions imposed by the U.S., U.K. and EU, but has said it doesn’t want the country to be used as a hub for Western companies to evade sanctions by transshipping goods.
U.S. and European officials say they have become increasingly concerned that more Western-made goods are being channeled to Russia through the U.A.E. as the U.S. has pressed other countries, including neighbors of Russia such as Armenia, to clamp down on the trade.
A U.S. State Department spokesman said officials were seeking help from all countries that “are being used to circumvent export controls and divert prohibited goods to Russian end-users.”
U.S., U.K. and EU sanctions envoys also have traveled jointly and separately to countries such as Turkey and Kazakhstan to press authorities to prevent Western dual-use products from reaching the battlefield.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was also at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.PHOTO: ALEXEI NIKOLSKY /EFE/ZUMA PRESS
Other countries have also helped Russia receive key dual-use technology. Trade between Russia and China boomed after the invasion, with Beijing exporting over $300 million worth of semiconductors and integrated circuits to Russia, up from $230 million the year before, according to United Nations trade data.
The U.A.E., a longtime U.S. partner in the Middle East, has condemned the invasion of Ukraine at the U.N. several times but has also tried to maintain ties with Russia, part of a foreign-policy strategy of broad international engagement in a world order that its leaders see as becoming increasingly multipolar. The U.A.E. last month said it would join the Brics group of emerging nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
U.A.E. President Mohamed bin Zayed has visited Russian President Vladimir Putin, communicating with U.S. officials before and after the trips. The U.A.E. has deep ties with the U.S., where its sovereign-wealth funds have invested tens of billions of dollars. The U.S. and the U.A.E. also cooperate on counterterrorism.
A U.A.E. official said the country abides by U.N.-imposed sanctions and is in close dialogue with international partners, including the U.S. and EU, about the conflict in Ukraine and its implications for the global economy.
The official said the Gulf state is monitoring the export of dual-use products and is committed to protecting “the integrity of the global financial system.”
The geopolitical climate and the country’s reputation as a stable investment hub have caused capital inflows to the U.A.E., where more than 200 nationalities now live, including nonsanctioned Russians and Ukrainians, the official added.
Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in February that bilateral trade between Russia and the U.A.E. grew 68% year-over-year to $9 billion in 2022, according to a report by Russian state news agency TASS.
According to Russian trade data collected by the Ukraine-based Kyiv School of Economics, the U.A.E. exported $149 million worth of computer components and modules to Russia in the first five months of this year, compared with $1 million in the same period last year. Exports of communications equipment grew to $64 million from zero in the same period last year, while exports of electrical and electronic equipment increased to $20 million from $1 million.
It is unclear how many of these products are subject to Western sanctions.
Armenia, which became a key transshipment hub for U.S. and European dual-use items to Russia last year, exported only around $1.2 million worth of computer components and modules to Russia in the first four months of this year, according to U.N. trade data.
Ani Badalyan, the spokeswoman for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, said that authorities are “exerting every effort” to avoid circumvention of Western sanctions on Russia and introduced a policy in May to place strict controls on the sale of 38 groups of products.
“These products cannot be re-exported from the Republic of Armenia to any country,” she said.
In November, the U.S. sanctioned two Dubai-based companies that it said were involved in the shipping of Iranian drones. In March, the U.A.E. said it had revoked the license of Russia’s MTS Bank after it was added to a new round of U.S. sanctions.
Georgi Kantchev, Paul Hannon and Stephen Kalin contributed to this article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com, Rory Jones at Rory.Jones@wsj.com and Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com
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Appeared in the September 5, 2023, print edition as 'Officials Plan to Caution U.A.E.'.
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