Turkey secretly stops supplying US military goods to Russia – FT
23 October 2024 13:37
Turkey has secretly banned the export of US military equipment to Russia after Washington warned Ankara of “consequences” if it does not stop the trade. This was reported by the British edition of the Financial Times , citing its own sources, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
The interlocutors of the publication said that Ankara recently made changes to its customs system to block the export of more than four dozen categories of goods of American origin that Russia could use in the war against Ukraine
It is noted that now Turkey’s electronic customs system does not allow the export of microchips, remote control systems and other goods from the “priority” list, which was jointly compiled by the United States, the United Kingdom, the EU and Japan. These include electronics used by Russia in missiles and drones.
Turkey’s trade restrictions come at a time when the US is trying to prevent Russia from accessing Western technology that has been used in Moscow’s military systems for more than two years after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The banned items are drawn from a list of 50 “top priority” Western-made goods that the US, UK, EU and Japan have identified as key for Russia to import for its arms industry.
These include advanced electronics that regularly appear in missiles and drones shot down in Ukraine, such as processors and memory cards, as well as machine tools and other equipment used to manufacture weapons.
Turkish exports of military goods
Turkey’s exports of military goods after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine increased from about $3 million per month to about $38 million in December 2022. In August 2024, this figure was $4.1 million.
The recent drop in direct trade is believed to be partly due to the shift of some military exports from Turkey to intermediaries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan before finally reaching Russia. The new Turkish trade restrictions do not affect exports to these countries.
Washington has long expressed concern that Turkey is being used as an intermediary through which Russia gains access to military goods, and this suspicion has deteriorated relations between the two allies.
Joe Biden’s administration has sent senior officials to Turkey to press the Erdogan government to take action, as well as to impose sanctions on Turkish companies for engaging in trade with Russia.
In August, US Assistant Secretary of Commerce Matthew Axelrod met with Turkish officials and top executives in Ankara and Istanbul in an effort to prevent advanced US technology from entering Russia.
Axelrod warned Turkey of unpleasant “consequences” if it did not block the supply of such products to Russia.
China remains the most significant supplier of these priority goods, supplying Russia with $377 million worth of military goods in July 2024.
India’s exports to Russia have surged to almost $100 million a month, almost entirely due to a sudden increase in the flow of computers and computing components, including Apple computers assembled in China and high-end servers for use in artificial intelligence data centres.
