Former Kyrgyz prime minister Babanov linked to financing Russia's aggression against Ukraine
Photo: Omurbek Babanov (facebook.com/omurbekbabanov)
Former Kyrgyz prime minister Omurbek Babanov is suspected of bypassing anti-Russian sanctions, which may have impacted several major international banks, according to the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Among them are Pasha Yatirim Bankasi (Türkiye), Mashreqbank (UAE), Landesbank Baden-Württemberg( Germany), Agricultural Bank of China Xinjiang (PRC), and JSC Unibank (Armenia).
All these financial institutions have been listed as potential targets for secondary sanctions by the US and EU against Russia due to their cooperation with MBank, whose beneficiary is Babanov. MBank has collaborated with the Kremlin’s primary bank, Sberbank, through a subsidiary named Bank 131.
MBank also continues to work with the Russian card processing center KartStandard, part of the Center of Financial Technologies (CFT), which was sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in August 2024. Additionally, it was reported that MBank receives payments from buyers of Russian oil.
It is noted that Kyrgyzstan has significantly increased trade volumes with Russia amid sanctions imposed following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"In the context of sanction-busting business schemes, Central Asian banks like MBank are obviously just small fry. Extending secondary sanctions to those working directly with Russia is essential but may prove insufficient. For Western sanctions to have a real impact, they will need to increase pressure on the larger international partners of these smaller banks and firms and take additional measures to prevent financial facilitation of Putin’s war machine," states the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Additionally, Babanov’s enterprise, Asia Cement, was the main contractor in Russia for constructing a multifunctional fast research reactor (MBR) in Dimitrovgrad, a project of Russia’s nuclear industry. In 2017, Babanov openly stated that Kyrgyzstan’s future was solely tied to Russia.
Babanov’s Asia Cement enterprise was included in a 50-year sanctions list by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 5, 2024, as Babanov's business structures have effectively become allies of the Kremlin in its aggression against Ukraine.
