StateWatch presented a study: Seoul’s strategic responses to the policies of Russia and North Korea

StateWatch think-tank, together with its partners, held a seminar on the Indo-Pacific — a region that remains unjustifiably under-discussed and under-examined within the Ukrainian media sphere. The aim of the event was to show how the region’s democracies and autocracies perceive Ukraine, while forming a relevant and realistic focus for Ukrainian media and export-related discourse in the context of global security trends in 2025.

As part of the seminar, StateWatch presented its project “Countering the circumvention of anti-Russian sanctions through cooperation with Asian countries”, implemented with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.

Analyst Maksym Steblivskyi delivered a report titled “Hong Kong and sanctions evasion: Russia’s use of the region’s unique status”, explaining how a jurisdiction with a soft regulatory regime, rapid company registration and access to global finance is used to supply dual-use goods to the Russian defence industry. Between January 2024 and February 2025, fifty-five Hong Kong-based companies exported to Russia critical goods worth at least USD 55 million. Participants also learned about the findings of investigations into specific cases of sanctioned components being supplied to Russia via Asian countries — information intended to support better awareness among governments and international partners.

Senior Analyst Sofiya Maksymiv presented a relatively successful case of export-control compliance by South Korea. Deliveries dropped sharply almost immediately after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Despite the significant decline since 2022, from January 2024 to March 2025 Russia still received at least USD 16.5 million worth of sanctioned goods from South Korea. Among high-priority products manufactured directly in South Korea, precision equipment — in particular CNC lathes — dominates.

Despite the overall effectiveness of the South Korean case, the persistence of residual supply channels for critical equipment indicates the need for further coordination among the sanctions coalition and strengthened export-control measures.