To U.S. officials recounting the events weeks later, the episode was unusual: More often than not, they said, such goods pass into Russia uninterrupted. Blocked from procuring military goods from Western countries, Moscow has increasingly looked for help from the former Soviet states of Central Asia, some of which are historically and financially bound to Russia but also trade extensively with Europe and China. Biden administration officials say they are particularly concerned about the role played by Kyrgyzstan, the country from which the drone shipment originated. For some items, such as rifle scopes, there was no previous record of Kyrgyzstan ever exporting such goods to Russia. A nearly identical quantity of the same types of electronics was exported from Kyrgyzstan to Russia over the same period, the documents show.

Source: Washington Post July 19, 2023 15:20 UTC