Kyrgyzstan appeals to Trump, Starmer after UK imposes Russia-related sanctions

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ALMATY (Reuters) -Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov appealed to the leaders of the United States and Britain on Thursday after London imposed sanctions on Kyrgyz crypto networks it said were being used by Russia to evade sanctions against Moscow.

“I would appeal to the top leadership of these countries, to (U.S. President) Donald Trump and (British Prime Minister) Keir Starmer,” Japarov told Kyrgyz state news agency Kabar.

“There is no need to politicise the economy.”

London on Wednesday introduced sanctions targeting the infrastructure behind A7A5, a rouble-pegged stablecoin launched in Kyrgyzstan which Britain said had moved $9.3 billion in four months.

A Luxembourg-based firm and four Kyrgyz entities including Grinex LLC and Old Vector LLC, linked to the infrastructure behind A7A5, were targeted. The U.S. sanctioned Grinex and Old Vector last week, saying they were involved in facilitating sanctions evasion and supporting illicit crypto activity.

Japarov denied that any of Kyrgyzstan’s 21 banks were involved in circumventing sanctions.

“To prevent any of them from falling under sanctions, we have decided that only the state-owned Keremet Bank will work with the Russian rouble. All operations are controlled by the state, and the profits go to the state budget,” Japarov said.

Washington sanctioned Keremet Bank in January, saying the mid-sized lender was creating a hub for trade payments and helping Moscow to evade restrictions. Keremet has said it will challenge the decision.

“We are ready to comply with international obligations,” Japarov said on Thursday. “But I will not allow the interests of our citizens and the trade and economic development of the country to be reduced to nothing.”

(Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)