WASHINGTON: Turkey has agreed to stop the transit of sanctioned western goods to Russia after pressure from the G7, a senior US official said, cautioning that Washington will monitor Ankara’s trade data with Moscow in anticipation of a drop.
James O’Brien, head of the US State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, told Reuters that Turkish officials have been “very clear” with various governments and agencies that they have put in place a ban on the re-export of sanctioned goods to Russia.
But Washington was yet to see the impact of the change, he said.
“It will take us some time to see it, but we will see trade data from March and April and we will expect to see this trade dropping dramatically,” O’Brien said.
“It’s the numbers. That’s all I care about.”
The United States and its allies imposed extensive sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but supply channels have remained open from Black Sea neighbor Turkey and other trading hubs, including Hong Kong.
The Turkish government handed companies a list of banned foreign goods and instructed them not to transship those to Russia from March 1, the Istanbul Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals Exporters Association said last month.
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