U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson warned Turkey about the risk of sanctions for trade cooperation with Russia.
“The marked increase in secondary Turkish exports and re-exports to Russia over the past year makes the Turkish private sector particularly vulnerable to reputational and sanctions risks … By engaging with sanctioned Russian entities, Turkish banks and businesses could be at risk and potentially lose access to G7 markets and correspondent relationships,” Nelson said, speaking in Istanbul.
Turkish businesses and banks, he said, should take “additional precautions to avoid transactions involving the potential transfer of dual-use technology that could be used by the Russian military industrial complex.”
“In order to mitigate these sanctions risks, I urge you as financial institutions to conduct enhanced scrutiny of transactions with Russian entities and individuals – especially in vulnerable sectors,” the U.S. official said.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. in talks with Turkey demanded that Ankara stop exporting goods to Russia because it allegedly helps Moscow conduct a special military operation. According to the agency, Brian Nelson held talks with Turkish authorities during which he said that tens of millions of dollars worth of sanctioned goods, some of which could be used for military interests, had entered Russia through their country.
