The United States is actively seeking to curb Russia’s acquisition of dual-use military and civilian products through third-party countries. Recently, Washington urged Turkey to pass and enforce a ban to restrict the export of US products related to the military to Russia.
According to a report from the Financial Times, Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Administration at the US Department of Commerce, recently met with senior Turkish officials in Ankara and Istanbul. He emphasized that Turkey needs to make more efforts to curb the crucial trade of US-origin chips and other products important for Russia’s military development.
“We need Turkey’s help to stop the illegal flow of US technology to Russia. We need to see rapid progress from Turkish authorities and the industrial sector, otherwise we will have no choice but to impose sanctions on those companies evading export controls.”
Axelrod urged the Turkish government to “pass and enforce a ban to prevent the transfer of items within the US-controlled scope to Russia,” noting that banning such trade is an “urgent issue.” He stated that Moscow is using Turkey’s trade policy to acquire US components.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US, the European Union, and other Western partners have imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russia. However, Turkish authorities have been cautious about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, refusing to join Western sanctions against Russia.
Euronews reported that in the first nine months of 2023, Turkey exported 45 types of goods to Russia and five “former Soviet countries” acting as intermediaries for Moscow (such as Kazakhstan, Serbia), including chips classified as “high priority” by the US, totaling 144 million euros. This figure is three times higher than the same period last year, exceeding the average of 26 million euros recorded from 2015 to 2021.
According to data from the US Department of Commerce, Turkey is the second-largest source of US-origin goods exported to Russia globally, second only to China. The US Department of Commerce has listed 18 Turkish companies on the “entity list” for allegedly supplying goods to Russian military enterprises.
The US has been pressuring Ankara to restrict the export of dual-use goods to Russia, such as electronic products, chips, semiconductors, printed circuit boards, communication and navigation equipment, and optical sighting devices.
Last year, Washington sent Brian Nelson, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, to Turkey twice to pressure Ankara to “prevent and investigate trade and financial activities that support Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
On December 22 last year, President Biden signed an executive order to strengthen sanctions on foreign banks supporting Russia’s war machine. The order allows the US Treasury Department to target financial institutions in countries like China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates that may help Russia evade sanctions.
Subsequently, difficulties and even interruptions in payments between Russia and Turkey began to surface. Preliminary data shows that in January of this year, Turkey’s exports to Russia decreased by 39% year-on-year to 631 million US dollars, while imports from Russia decreased by 20.2% year-on-year to 4 billion US dollars.