WASHINGTON: Turkiye has agreed to stop the transit of sanctioned Western goods to Russia after pressure from the G7, a senior US official said on Thursday, cautioning that Washington would monitor Ankara’s trade data with Moscow in anticipation of a drop.

James O’Brien, head of the US State Department’s Office for sanctions coordination, said Turkish officials had been “very clear” with various governments and agencies that they had put in place a ban on the re-export of sanctioned goods to Russia.

“It will take us some time to see it, but we will see trade data from March and April and we will expect to see this trade dropping dramatically,” O’Brien said.

The United States and its allies imposed extensive sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but supply channels have remained open from Black Sea neighbour Turkiye and other trading hubs, including Hong Kong.

The Turkish government handed companies a list of banned foreign goods and instructed them not to transship those to Russia from March 1, the Istanbul Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals Exporters Association said last month.

The policy comes after Washington and other members of the G7 bloc of wealthy nations have worked to persuade third countries to restrict sales of items that Russia can reuse on the battlefield.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023