BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 24. Daiyrbek Orunbekov, head of the Presidential Administration's Information Policy Service of Kyrgyzstan, commented on an article in Azattyk titled "British Agency Reports Money Laundering Network Acquires Keremet Bank", TurkicWorld reports via Kabar.
He thinks it necessary to respond to the publication and clarify the situation for the general public.
"According to the allegations, Western authorities have imposed sanctions on two Kyrgyz banks, accusing them of “cooperating with Russia’s Sberbank and laundering its funds,” he said.
Orunbekov noted that at present, approximately one million of our citizens are working in the Russian Federation.
"Every day, they send billions of rubles to their families in Kyrgyzstan through Sberbank and other financial institutions. These rubles are converted into soms once they reach Kyrgyzstan, enabling the families of migrants to receive their remittances. The rubles themselves subsequently return to Russia as payment for imported goods. How does this happen?
Kyrgyzstan imports oil, gas, metals, wheat, food products, and construction materials from Russia. Supplier companies specify the bank accounts to which payment must be transferred, and payments are made accordingly. Is Kyrgyzstan “using up” the rubles sent by migrants? No. We cannot make these payments in dollars, euros, or soms. Therefore, the rubles entering Kyrgyzstan naturally return to Russia through standard economic circulation. This is a normal and essential mechanism of commodity–money exchange, and such flows are fundamental to the functioning of Kyrgyzstan’s economy.
Thus, labeling these operations as “cooperation with Russian banks” in a negative sense effectively obstructs the economic development of Kyrgyzstan and may reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to inflict harm. Any refusal to work with Russian banks would directly threaten the financial stability of our country and the well-being of the families who depend on migrant remittances," he said.
