FT: US urges Turkey to stop exporting military goods to Russia
Kyiv • UNN
The White House has called on Turkey to stop exporting American goods to Russia that could be used for military purposes. The US is threatening consequences if Ankara does not take steps to stop the illegal trade.
The White House has warned Turkey of the "consequences" of strengthening cooperation with Russia and called on Ankara to stop exporting American goods to Russia that could be used for the production of military equipment. This was reported by the Financial Times.
Details
For example, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Matthew Axelrod recently met with Turkish officials in Ankara and Istanbul to try to stop the illegal trade.
As noted in the publication, the official is actively working to ensure that sensitive technologies do not fall into the hands of US adversaries.
During a meeting with his Turkish counterparts , Axelrod warned that their country should do more to curb the trade in US-origin chips and other parts important to the Russian war machine.
We need Turkey to help stop the illicit flow of U.S. technology to Russia. We need to see progress, and fast, from Turkish government and industry, or we will have no choice but to create consequences for those who evade our export controls
It is noted that Washington is concerned that Turkey has become a key hub through which Western-made electronics, such as processors, memory cards, and amplifiers, are used in Russian missiles and drones in violation of export controls.
Machine tools are another important area of concern.
According to a representative of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Turkey is the second largest source of priority goods of American origin sent to Russia after China.
Axelrod told the Turkish government that this trade is an "urgent problem," calling on Ankara to adopt and enforce a ban on the transit of US-controlled goods to Russia. According to him, Moscow is trying to use Turkey's trade policy to gain access to American parts.
The FT emphasizes that the US Department of Commerce has already added 18 Turkish companies to its "Entity List" in connection with this trade: now US companies must obtain licenses to sell sensitive parts to firms on the list.
This will continue until progress is made
In addition, the US Treasury Department has separately imposed sanctions on many Turkish companies for supplying the Russian military-industrial complex.
Addendum
The publication emphasizes that Turkey's exports of priority military goods sent to Russia or to Moscow's suspected "intermediaries" such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have skyrocketed since the beginning of the war.
According to FT calculations based on Turkish customs data for the first six months of this year, it amounted to $85 million, significantly higher than the $27 million for the same period in 2022.
Nevertheless, Turkish exports of military goods seem to have declined slightly from the peak reached in 2023.
The U.S. Treasury Department attributes the drop to an executive order from President Joe Biden's administration that allows it to consider any foreign financial company that conducts transactions with sanctioned Russian firms as directly cooperating with Russia's military-industrial base.
(...) Turkey's decision to maintain strong trade ties with Russia has overshadowed relations between Ankara and Washington, both NATO allies
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