Turkey reportedly slows down sensitive shipments to Russia after US warning

Turkey has reportedly restricted shipments of components found in Russian weapons to Russia following warnings from the US.

The Financial Times (FT), citing “three people with direct knowledge of the matter”, said Turkey has blocked exports of 48 categories of sensitive components originating in the US such as microchips to Russia at Washington’s request.

One person told the FT that Turkey’s electronic customs system has banned exporters from sending so-called “battlefield products” to Russia.

Two other people told the publication that similar measures had previously been introduced against components originating in the EU.

One of the three said the decision was not made public because of “political sensitivities.”

“The banned products are drawn from a list of 50 high-priority items” made in the West that the US, UK, EU and Japan have identified as crucial to Russia’s imports for its arms industry,” the FT reported, adding that they included. “processors and memory cards, as well as machine tools and other equipment used to produce weapons.”

Matthew Axelrod, the US assistant commerce secretary tasked with stemming the flow of technology sensitive to Washington’s adversaries, warned Turkish officials of “consequences” if Ankara continued the deals during his August trip to Turkey.

An FT chart showed that exports of sensitive goods from Turkey to Russia peaked in December 2022 at $37.6 million and fell sharply a year later when the US extended its financial sanctions to Russia

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The publication attributed the decline to the Kremlin’s shift to intermediaries in countries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, where it said Turkey’s latest restrictions do not apply to those nations.

Turkey, despite being a member of NATO, has positioned itself as a proxy in the Ukraine war and has maintained ties with both Kiev and Moscow, including efforts to mediate peace talks in the early days of the invasion of Russia in 2022 and the subsequent Black Sea Grain Agreement.

Along with Ukraine, Turkey supplied Kiev with its Bayraktar drones in the early days of the war, which played an important role in helping Kiev counter a Russian invasion in 2022. Earlier reports from 2022 also indicated plans for the manufacturer of drones set up shop in Kiev. , and Turkey granted Ukraine the license to produce the drones in June 2023, although it is unclear whether the plans moved forward.

Turkey also facilitated the return of some Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWS) who participated in the defense of Mariupol Azovstal from Russian captivity in July 2023 to the Kremlin’s chagrin.

That said, Ankara has also fostered its ties with Moscow.

Turkey has recently expressed its desire to join the Kremlin-led BRICS bloc, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally attending the ongoing BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan at the highest level.

If admitted, Turkey would be the first NATO member of a bloc seen as a counterweight to Western powers.

In 2017, Turkey also bought the S-400 missile defense systems from Russia to the chagrin of Washington, which then kicked Ankara out of the US F-35 stealth fighter program.

However, recent rumors suggested Turkey could sell the missiles to third nations to appease Washington, while others suggested Ankara would keep them in storage and allow US inspections as a compromise.