The extraordinary, unprecedented and largely unexplained flows of millions of pounds of British luxury automobiles to states neighboring Russia continued in February, according to new official data.
Around £26 million worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan in February, according to data from HM Revenue & Customs.
Figures show that last quarter this former Soviet state with developing economy status was the UK’s 17th biggest car destination, bigger than long-established export markets such as Ireland, Portugal and Qatar.
Azerbaijan’s rise coincided almost in the same month with the imposition of sanctions on automobile exports to Russia.
British cars are banned from being sent to Russia, both as “dual-use” goods, which could be repurposed as weapons, and, for any cars worth more than £42,000, under specific luxury goods restrictions.
However, even as UK car exports to Russia fell to zero, they rose sharply to Russia’s neighboring states, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and, most notably, Azerbaijan.
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While it is impossible to prove where these shipments end up, there is abundant anecdotal evidence that these countries are being used as conduits to smuggle prohibited goods into Russia.
The latest data from HMRC shows that in the three months to February, the average value of cars shipped to Azerbaijan was over £115,000, making this small, relatively poor economy one of the highest value luxury car markets in the world – at the same time side Switzerland, Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia.
The total value of UK car exports to Azerbaijan in the two years since the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions is now £523 million. This compares to £58 million in the two immediately preceding years.
British motoring lobby group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has insisted that this 800% increase can be explained by internal factors in Azerbaijan’s economy – and is not related to Russian sanctions.
March: Luxury cars made in Britain are still bought by rich Russians
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UK-made cars are entering Russia despite sanctions
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An SMMT spokesperson said: “UK car manufacturers comply with all trade sanctions and would condemn any party that puts this commitment at risk. Car exports from UK factories to Azerbaijan have grown since 2019 due to multiple factors, including significant new model launches, pent-up demand and a growing domestic appetite for UK luxury cars. In fact, UN data shows that only two cars of any origin have been officially exported from Azerbaijan to Russia this year.
“We never exclude the possibility of third parties exploiting any vulnerabilities in the sanctions regime, and manufacturers do everything in their power to prevent this. Any vehicle manufactured in the United Kingdom for sale in Russia arrived there without its authorization. A rapidly evolving global issue that spans products from multiple sectors in many countries that enforce sanctions and address any vulnerabilities requires a coordinated global response.”
However, while United Nations (UN) data suggests that the quantity of cars officially exported to Russia remains low, the same data suggests that, far from behaving like a normal car market, Azerbaijan appears to be channeling cars to elsewhere, to Central Asia.
Contrary to SMMT analysis, which suggests that car exports can be explained by domestic factors, Azerbaijani car exports have increased by 4,800% since the invasion of Russia, with the majority of cars going (according to UN data) to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to UK government sources, these states are considered to be widely used as conduits for goods to Russia.
Cars are not the only British products that have seen a huge increase in exports to Central Asia and the Caucasus – the same has happened with components and machinery used to make weapons. On a visit to Kyrgyzstan this week, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron admitted that Russia is using Central Asian countries to circumvent sanctions and build its “war machine”.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
