Turkey appears to halt transit of sanctioned goods to Russia
Turkey has appeared to halt the transit of sanctioned goods through its territory to Russia, the Russian business paper Kommersant reported on Thursday, citing executives of Russian logistics companies.
Kommersant reported that several managers said earlier this week Turkish customs authorities had started rejecting the transit of goods to Russia and Belarus where declarations included customs codes of items named on a European Union list of sanctioned goods.
The executives said that Turkish customs officials cited a government directive to halt transit, but there had been no formal public government announcement of any change in Turkey’s transit policy on goods going to Russia or Belarus.
Kommersant also cited some logistics executives who said there were broader restrictions on transit of goods destined for Russia and Belarus through Turkey, with only the export of Turkish-produced goods allowed.
Turkey emerged last year as a major hub for the transport of sanctioned goods to Russia, and for the export of products covered under Russia’s multi-billion dollar “parallel imports” scheme, which allows imports of Western brands without the license holders’ permission. [Reuters]
