US warns Turkey of consequences over military exports to Russia – The Financial Times.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Matthew Axelrod, who leads U.S. efforts to prevent sensitive technologies from falling into the hands of America’s adversaries, recently met with Turkish officials and leaders in Ankara and Istanbul.
His message, according to a senior Commerce Department official, was that Turkey must do more to stop trade in U.S.-made chips and other components key to Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
We need Turkey to help stop the illicit flow of American technology to Russia… We need to see progress, and fast, from Turkish authorities and industry, otherwise we will have no choice but to impose sanctions on those who evade our export controls,” Axelrod said in a statement to the Financial Times.
The US is particularly concerned that Turkey has become a key hub through which Western-made electronics, including processors, memory cards and amplifiers, are being funneled into Russian missiles and drones, violating export controls. Machine tools are another major area of concern.
Turkey is the world’s second-largest source of high-priority U.S.-origin goods shipped to Russia after China, according to a U.S. Commerce Department spokesman.
The U.S. Commerce Department has already designated 18 Turkish companies for violating secondary sanctions, meaning U.S. companies will need special licenses to sell sensitive parts to them.
Turkish exports of military goods to Russia or Moscow’s perceived proxies such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have boomed since the start of the war in Ukraine. They totalled $85m in the first six months of this year, up significantly from $27m in the same period in 2022, according to FT calculations based on Turkish customs data.
A significant portion of these flows may be part of the “secret trade” of goods that “disappear” and never reach their intended destination markets. For example, the significant increase in Turkish exports of sensitive goods to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan has not led to an increase in imports of such goods in these countries, which leads to certain conclusions.
Joe Biden’s secondary sanctions, which came into effect over the winter, have led to some reduction in shadow exports from Turkey to Russia, “but not enough,” a U.S. trade official said.
Source: Racurs
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