Kazakhstan Plans to Expand Use of Caspian Route to Bypass Russia in Trade with the West

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 10 – According to a Russian analyst, “the events in Ukraine have stimulated the activity of the leadership of the transportation and logistics branch of Kazakhstan to see new routes for export to Europe bypassing Russia, against which Western countries have imposed broad economic sanctions.”

            In pursuit of that, Vlad Kondratyev says, Kazakh officials are negotiating with their Azerbaijani counterparts to radically increase the flow of trade across the Caspian south of Russia and take full advantage of the Trans-Caspian Trade Corridor (casp-geo.ru/kazahstan-nastroen-na-aktivizatsiyu-razvitiya-transkaspijskogo-transportnogo-koridora/).

            Kazakhstan has also announced plans to dramatically expand the shipping capacity of its Caspian ports and the infrastructure connecting them with the rest of the country, an indication of its seriousness about bypassing Russia and working instead with Azerbaijan and other countries in the southern Caucasus (casp-geo.ru/kazahstan-nameren-ispolzovat-potentsial-morskih-portov-na-kaspii/).