Zigs would you know it if you had the correct name..or is it something new to you? Feel I should know it. Just a suggestion...may be miles out...Diervilla sp./or Leycesteria.???
Not great on identifying shrubs but the leaves look rather more like a true evergreen and somewhat thick for Lecesteria formosa (Himalayan honeysuckle/Chinese nutmeg - or as one customer calls her's "Mexican clematis" ). The thickness of the leaves and the number of them are more than normal as it usually looks rather like Japweed but with opposing, not staggered leaves coming directly out of each stem. It doesn't produce 'branches' with leaves, just upright stems (at least around here). If the local variety is a new sub-species, gonna call it Kazakhstan aubergine (botanical name Zigus gingerous x Mysterious sockus)