US pressures Türkiye to end Russian flights with American-made planes

REGION  26 January 2023 - 17:27

The officials familiar with the talks have said that US officials are pressuring Türkiye to stop Russian airlines from flying American-made airplanes to and from the country, signalling a new push in Washington to persuade countries to enforce sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Senior American officials warned last month that Turkish individuals are at risk of jail time, fines, loss of export privileges and other measures if they provide services like refuelling and spare parts to US-made planes flying to and from Russia and Belarus in violation of export controls imposed last year, the officials said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce Thea Rozman Kendler delivered the message to Turkish officials during a December visit to Türkiye, the officials said.

The warning to Türkiye is a key test of whether the US and its allies can succeed in isolating Russia over the long term, or whether Moscow can find a way to continue economic activity with the help of third countries that are central to the Kremlin’s strategy of finding partners outside of the West. The Turkish Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment on the warning.

“At a certain point, they will have to take an enforcement-related action,” said Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant US trade representative and currently a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. “Otherwise the whole kind of thing falls apart if it turns out they have knowledge of violations and they haven’t been able to do anything to address it.”

A Department of Commerce spokesman said the agency couldn’t comment on specifics. He said the agency’s Office of Export Enforcement recently warned overseas aviation companies about complying with US export controls involving the servicing of Russian, Belarusian and Iranian commercial aircraft.

Caliber.Az