Russia Is Beating Ukraine War Car Sanctions, Brings In Rolls-Royces And Bentleys Through Azerbaijan

Russia is beating Ukraine War Car Sanctions by bringing Rolls-Royces and Bentleys through its neighbour’s, especially Azerbaijan.

While direct British car exports to Russia have fallen to zero since 2022, car exports to Azerbaijan rose to almost 2000 percent.

British carmakers, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Bentley Motors insisted that they are no longer selling cars to Russia.

Russia is reportedly finding ways to beat Ukraine war sanctions by bringing in cars made by British luxury marques through former Soviet states, especially Azerbaijan, according to Sky News reports based on the UK HMRC statistics.

Sky News analysis suggests
British carmakers, Rolls-Royce and Bentley are selling hundreds of millions of pounds of luxury vehicles to Russia after imposition of sanctions, following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

While direct British car exports to Russia have fallen to zero since 2022, there have been corresponding increase of British car exports to countries neighbouring Russia, most notably Azerbaijan.

“Our analysis, based on official HMRC trade data, finds that the UK exported £273m of vehicles to Azerbaijan last year, a 1,860% increase compared with the five-year period preceding the invasion.”

“The HMRC database, which also shows the count of cars sold as well as the total value, reveals that the average value of UK cars exported to Azerbaijan was more than £100,000 – suggesting that the consignments are primarily or exclusively luxury cars.”

Britain’s motoring lobby group The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) told Sky News that : “UK vehicle manufacturers are committed to full compliance with all current and future trade sanctions.”

British carmakers, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Bentley Motors which have continued to sell record number of cars since 2022, also insisted that they are no longer selling cars to Russia

Rolls-Royce, which is owned by BMW, said:

“Rolls-Royce Motor Cars ceased production and supply of cars for the Russian market in late February 2022, before international trade sanctions were put in place. In the meantime, governments have implemented far-reaching sanctions, which we fully comply with and support.”

“If any new Rolls-Royce motor car has been imported into Russia since late February 2022 this has been done so without the knowledge or support of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.”

A representative from Bentley, owned by VW, said:

“We are committed to full compliance with all current and future trade sanctions and there is no evidence to suggest a lack of compliance with existing sanctions, or indeed a change of sales trend in Azerbaijan.”

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