Türkiye cuts exports to Russia by one-third amid US sanctions threat
Pravda Ukraine
The volume of shipments from Türkiye to Russia decreased by 33% in February, amounting to US$670 million, compared to US$1 billion for the same period in 2023.
Source: The Moscow Times, citing the Ministry of Trade of Türkiye
Details: In the first two months of the year, Turkish exports to Russia amounted to US$1.29 billion. This is a significant decrease from over US$2 billion in the same period the previous year. Currently, Russia accounts for only 3.2% of Türkiye’s total exports. In February, Germany (US$1.72 billion) and the United States (US$1.33 billion) emerged as leaders in this regard.
Imports from Russia to Türkiye also experienced a sharp decline last month, dropping by more than a third (36.65%) from US$2 billion to US$1.3 billion year-on-year.
A similar trend was observed in January, when Turkish exports to Russia decreased by 39%, reaching US$631 million compared to US$1 billion for the same period in 2023. A Reuters source says that trade in certain goods, including machinery, stopped completely.
The decrease in trade turnover was due to the risk of secondary sanctions from the United States. On 22 December 2023, US President Joe Biden authorised the US Department of the Treasury to impose restrictions on foreign financial institutions that assist in servicing transactions involving sanctioned individuals from Russia or facilitate equipment supply to the Russian military-industrial complex.
Following this, banks in Türkiye began reassessing their relationships with clients from Russia due to the fear of losing access to the US dollar, which accounts for almost half of the world’s financial transactions. This situation also affected Russian oil exporters, who stopped receiving payments from Ankara for the barrels sold.
In January, similar issues arose with India, which refused to accept 14 tankers of Sakhalin crude oil after Rosneft could not open an account in the UAE to receive payments in dirhams.
In early February, Turkish banks began closing Russian companies’ accounts. Previously, restrictions applied only to those under sanctions, but now they have expanded to almost all companies.
Background: The new sanctions imposed by the United States against Russia could impact the sale of Russian oil to India, the largest buyer of its seaborne crude.
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