The US threat of secondary sanctions against Turkish banks that accept payments from Russia has hit Russian-Turkish trade.
According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), exports of goods from Türkiye to Russia fell by 28.3 per cent year-on-year to $4.16 billion in the January-June period.
In June in particular, this figure fell by almost 30 per cent year-on-year to $670 million and $956 million respectively.
Türkiye also reduced its imports of goods from Russia. This decline was 10.3 per cent year-on-year to $22.04 billion.
In addition, Türkiye’s imports from Russia in June increased by 1.2 per cent year on year to $2.95 billion.
Energy remains the main component of imports from Russia, but even these imports have been affected by payment problems.
Russian oil supplies, including to India, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have been disrupted due to payment problems at Turkish banks, Reuters reported in March.
Türkiye has also sharply reduced natural gas imports from Russia, according to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA).
In April, Turkish importers bought only 413 million cubic metres of pipeline gas from Gazprom, 3.6 times less than in the same month last year (1.523 billion cubic metres).
Turkish companies are also cutting back on purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia; in April, the country’s ports did not receive a single tanker carrying raw materials from Russia.
Problems with bank payments between Russia and Türkiye began in December last year.
US President Joe Biden issued a decree allowing the Treasury Department to impose secondary sanctions on third-country banks for working with sanctioned Russian entities and for supporting Russia’s defence industry.
In June this year, the US expanded the definition of Russian defence industry to include all individuals and entities previously sanctioned.
