Turkey vows US to prevent Russia from circumventing Western sanctions

The Turkish Ministry of Finance and Treasury promised to prevent Russian citizens or organizations from circumventing the sanctions imposed on Russian companies. About this following a telephone conversation between US and Turkish officials, informs Bloomberg.

Deputy Finance Minister Yunus Elitas told his American counterpart Wally Adeyemo that Turkey’s position on the issue of sanctions has not changed.

By opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and providing drones to help Kyiv in the war, Turkey is refraining from joining Western sanctions on Moscow, which remains a key supplier of natural gas and crude oil.

Adeyemo, according to Bloomberg, told the Turkish Deputy Minister of concerns about the possible use by Russians or legal entities of Turkey “to evade sanctions” imposed by the United States and 30 other countries.

Earlier, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported that the strengthening of economic relations is causing concern in the West, and Western leaders are threatening Ankara with sanctions if it helps Russia bypass the imposed restrictions. According to sources, at the first stage, it may not be about official sanctions, but about informal instructions to Western banks and financial institutions to reduce financial transactions with Turkish counterparties.

The newspaper also wrote about request a number of EU countries to Ankara to provide details regarding the growing trade turnover between Russia and Turkey. At the same time, the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade explained that the trade turnover did not grow so much to call it an “outstanding change” in trade relations between Moscow and Ankara. However, exports between May and July 2022 amounted to $1.04 billion, up $642 million from the same period in 2021, according to Financial Times calculations.

On July 30, it became known that the volume of deliveries of goods from Turkey to Russia in June increased by 46% compared to the same period last year and by 52% compared to May. The export of the republic reached $791.4 million. According to the UN trade base (Comtrade), in June deliveries of fruits, as well as machinery, equipment and components to the Russian Federation increased significantly.

Increase in the share of settlements between Russia and Turkey in national currencies can not become a pretext for imposing secondary sanctions against Turkey, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.