The Turkish Industry and Business Association said it had received a letter from the US Treasury Department warning of possible sanctions if it continued to do business with Russia weeks after announcing a Russian-Turkish energy cooperation deal.
Washington is increasingly concerned that the Russian government and companies are using Turkey to circumvent Western financial and trade restrictions imposed in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine six months ago.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to step up economic cooperation between their countries at a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi earlier this month.
Official figures show that the value of Turkish exports to Russia rose by about 50 percent from a year ago between May and July.
Turkey’s imports of Russian oil are on the rise, and both sides have agreed to switch to ruble payments for natural gas exported by giant Gazprom. sanctions regime // International.
The economic cooperation agreement signed by Erdogan and Putin includes an agreement to increase the number of Turkish banks that will start working with the Russian Mir payment system.
