In 2023, Georgia’s government banned the re-export of automobiles to Russia, a move intended to align with international sanctions against Moscow. But recent trade data is buttressing suspicions that Georgia is still serving as a key waypoint in a network used by Russia to import goods, especially automobiles. 

According to figures released by the National Statistics Office of Georgia, for the second year in a row, cars were the most exported item from Georgia in 2024, totaling more than $2.4 billion and accounting for 37 percent of the country’s overall volume of exports. Curiously, the top destination for all exports was not a neighboring country, but Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation state situated more than a thousand miles away. Exports from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan totaled $1.3 billion last year, marking a remarkable 85 percent increase over the previous year’s total.

The Georgian-Kyrgyzstan connection has long faced scrutiny for being a major supply channel relied on by Russia to overcome Western sanctions.

Since Western nations started sanctioning Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has used Kyrgyzstan as a backdoor to obtain sanctioned goods, especially dual-use components that help keep the Russian war effort going. Autos are also a big import item: the number of cars entering Kyrgyzstanexploded to more than 180,000 in 2023, up from around 40,000 in 2022, the year the Russia-Ukraine war began.

Georgia has long been known as a regional purveyor of used cars. But the latest data represents a change in the dynamic of Georgian exports. In 2023, Azerbaijan was the country’s top trading partner, and automobiles comprised the bulk of exports from Georgia, according to local media, with Azerbaijan importing more than $430 million in automobiles. That figure decreased last year, although Azerbaijan – a country that has also been accused of re-exporting sanctioned goods, including automobiles, to Russia – was still Georgia’s third-largest trading partner in 2024.

Observers note that discrepancies in official data figures indicate that many cars ostensibly sold by Georgian sellers to Kyrgyz buyers aren’t making it to their supposed destination. Instead, they may be diverted to Russia.

“According to Georgian statistics, in [the first] 10 months of [2024] … cars worth $964 million were sold as re-exports from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan. According to the statistics of Kyrgyzstan, cars worth about $50 million entered from Georgia. Where did goods worth more than $900 million disappear?” asked Georgian opposition politician Roman Gotsiridze last November, adding that he believes the cars are ending up in Russia.

Authorities in both countries claim they are striving to contain illicit trade. While Georgian officials seem to be turning a blind eye to the passage of sanctioned dual-use goods through the country, their counterparts in Kyrgyzstan have nominally taken measures of late to corral sanctions-busting practices.

Last fall, under pressure from the United States, Kyrgyz officials started requiring traders to confirm that goods they are paying for will arrive in Kyrgyzstan within 60 days. The government also established a new state regulatory entity to monitor trade.

The impact of such measures is not reflected in the 2024 trade data, and whether the new rules and procedures are being effectively implemented remains uncertain.