WSJ: Turkey exported sanctioned goods worth millions of dollars to Russia in 2022

Turkey was exporting US-made goods to Russia last year in violation of sanctions imposed on Moscow, some of these products were used to fuel the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The newspaper’s investigation revealed that at least 13 Turkish companies were exporting plastics, rubber products, and transport vehicles amounting to at least $18.5 million in total. The goods were purchased by 10 Russian companies placed on the US sanction list.

Moreover, Turkish companies bypassed sanctions in the first seven months of the Ukraine war to send elevators, generators, printed circuit boards, and other US-made products worth $15 million to Russia.

Reports emerged earlier that senior US Treasury official Brian Nelson had urged Turkey and the UAE to end exports of sanctioned goods to Russia.

Nelson earlier had meetings with Turkish authorities and private businesses in Ankara and Istanbul, calling on them to engage in closer cooperation on issues of trade with Moscow. Washington is concerned about Turkish exports of US-made products that violate sanctions and amount to dozens of million of dollars, the US Treasury notes.

According to Nelson, any further increase of these exports can entail “reputational and sanctions risks” or even a loss of access to G7 markets to Turkish companies.

Nelson made a similar statement in the UAE earlier this week.

On 26 January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington was trying to put pressure on Ankara to end flights to Turkey of US-made planes that are operated by Russian airlines.

The news soon emerged that Turkey’s Havas, airport ground service provider, warned Russian, Belarusian, and Iranian airlines about risks that planes sanctioned by the US would not be serviced in the future. Russia’s RBC reports that 170 planes operated by Russian companies made the list.