US sanctions two Uzbek companies

The United States has added two companies in Uzbekistan, Uzstanex and The Elite Investment Group, to its sanctions list, as reported by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury.

OFAC's sanctions targeted approximately 275 individuals and organizations linked to the development of Russia's military-industrial complex. This list includes five Russian deputy defense ministers—Anna Tsivilyova, Alexander Fomin, Pavel Fradkov, Viktor Goremikin, and Andrey Buliga—and around 400 other individuals and entities.

The sanctions extend to foreign nationals and companies based in China, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, and India, alongside the two Uzbek companies now under restriction.

The Unified State Register of Trade Organizations shows that Uzstanex, a company registered in July 2018 in Tashkent's Yashnabad district, specializes in the wholesale trade of machine tools. It has an authorized capital of 65 million soums, with Vasiliy Vitalevich Abramov as the sole founder and Dmitriy Aleksandrovich Boysov as the director.

The Elite Investment Group, established in January 2024 in Tashkent’s Yangiyol district, operates in non-specialist wholesale trading with a charter fund of 3 million soums. Nodira Abdusattorovna Kazoqboeva is both founder and director. According to the U.S. Department of State, The Elite Investment Group provided approximately $190,000 in products from the Common High Priority List (CHPL) to Russian firms, including GTS Group and Turkey’s Guclu, using its affiliate Global as an agent-carrier for items like electrical transformers.

Earlier, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security limited American technology and goods supplies to 12 Russian companies and one Uzbek company, citing risks to U.S. national security. The entities on this list are alleged to support the Russian military through the acquisition and distribution of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This includes Russian UAV manufacturer ZALA Aero and Uzbek electronic components supplier Mvizion, blacklisted with a registered capital of $1 million