October 3, 2005

# European Union Imposes Sanctions on Uzbekistan

By C. J. CHIVERS

MOSCOW, Oct. 3 - European Union nations imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan today, seeking to punish the Central Asian nation for its refusal to allow an international investigation into the bloody crackdown of an uprising in May in the northeastern city of Andijon.

The sanctions against Uzbekistan impose an embargo on exports of arms and equipment that might be used for internal repression and suspend meetings between the European Union and Uzbekistan that were aimed at accelerating the former Soviet state's rapprochement with the West. They will also forbid the travel of Uzbek officials directly involved the crackdown to the 25 European Union states.

The decision followed months of diplomatic tension between much of the West and Uzbekistan after a prison break and anti-government demonstration on May 13. The demonstration, which survivors said included several thousand people, was scattered by gunfire from Uzbek troops and armored vehicles.

Survivors and independent organizations claim that hundreds of people were killed, almost all of them unarmed. Uzbekistan, an autocratic state that had been an ally with the Bush administration's counter-terrorism efforts, has argued that the crackdown was a necessary counter-terrorism operation, and said only 187 people, principally Islamic terrorists, were killed. It has stubbornly resisted calls for an open investigation of its crackdown of the uprising.

As criticism over the violence mounted in the spring and summer, Uzbekistan sharply shifted its foreign policy, aligning itself more closely with Russia and China and trimming its relations with the West. In July, it ordered the United States leave an airbase that it has been using since 2001, an eviction now scheduled for early next year. Last month, Uzbekistan hosted a small joint military exercise with Russian troops, signaling its new allegiances.

Meeting in Luxembourg, the foreign ministers of European Union states approved the sanctions for an initial period of one year, allowing for a review in 2006 of Uzbekistan's willingness to "adhere to the principles of respect for human rights, rule of law and fundamental freedoms."

The trade ban covers weapons and ammunition, as well as dozens of items that could be used in crackdowns and police work, including helmets and certain types of body armor, vehicles equipped with armor, leg irons, shackles, tear gas, water cannons, riot shields, fingerprint equipment, search lights, equipment for intercepting or jamming communications and night vision goggles.

The sanctions also suspended scheduled meetings under the so-called Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the blueprint that since 1999 has helped develop the European Union's political relations with Uzbekistan and guide economic relations in trade, transport, customs, postal services, telecommunications and other areas.

Human Rights Watch, the New York-based organization, which has investigated the crackdown and repression in the months since, hailed that move, saying it was the first of its kind in the European Union's history.

But although the sanctions mark a clear rebuke of the Central Asian state, they have a limited ability to undermine Uzbekistan's military or police capabilities.

While Uzbekistan has often accepted Western security aid, its military, intelligence and police forces are overwhelmingly equipped with Soviet-era military hardware, which continues to be manufactured and sold by Russia, China and other states outside of the European Union.

Moreover, Russia has made clear it will not honor the embargo, which may create fresh trade opportunities for its arms industry, a sector that has rebounded in recent years under prodding from President Vladimir V. Putin.

"There are no restrictions on weapons supplies to Uzbekistan," Russia's defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, said last week in anticipation of the embargo, according to the Interfax news agency. "We will continue to develop further relations with Uzbekistan."

The potential effects of the travel restrictions to Western Europe are also uncertain.

The Uzbek president, Islam A. Karimov, and the nation's interior minister, Col. Gen. Zakirdzhon Almatov, were in Andijon during the uprising, and survivors have accused them of ordering and directing the violence against the crowd.

But the European Union has not yet drawn up a public list of officials it suspects of involvement in the violence, so it was not immediately clear which officials might face the travel restrictions. A European Union spokesman said the list will be compiled now that the sanctions have been approved.