Reuters learned about Ankara’s list of goods prohibited for transit to Russia

The Turkish government has distributed among Turkish companies a list of foreign goods, the re-export of which to Russia is prohibited from March 1, reported Reuters referring to the head of the Istanbul Association of Exporters of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals, Cetin Tejdelioglu.

“Any goods from this list are blocked for Russia, regardless of which country they came from,” he said.

At the same time, these restrictions do not apply to goods manufactured in Turkey (even with foreign components). Tejdelioglu also added that the current situation has prompted Russian importers to look for alternative suppliers in Kazakhstan and other countries.

The Turkish Ministry of Trade declined to comment to the agency. The representative of the European Union said that Ankara gave the European Commission a “verbal assurance” that the transit to Russia of goods that fell under the sanctions or export restrictions of the EU, the US and the UK will be stopped from March 1.

As Tejdelioglu stressed, Ankara made such a decision after “serious warnings” from Western countries in order to avoid confrontation with the EU, which accounts for half of Turkish exports.

March 15 Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov confirmedthat Russian and Turkish companies “for some time” have faced tougher rules for the transit of goods to Russia. The trade and economic departments of the Russian Federation and Turkey are working on this, he said then.

On March 9, Kommersant FM, citing representatives of logistics companies, reported that Turkey had stopped transit of sanctioned cargoes to Russia. The fact that Turkey stopped the transit of sanctioned cargoes going through its territory to Russia is also wrote “Vedomosti”. According to a representative of the Community of Top Managers of Logistics Companies (CTMLK), problems with the preparation of Turkish export and transit declarations for goods bound for Russia began on March 7.

Turkish customs officers block goods for Russia in special warehouses if they got there from a country that has imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, the source explains, referring to the data of one of the customs brokers. Blocking, according to him, also occurs if the cargo itself is prohibited for delivery to Russia.