Türkiye exported military goods to Russia, but now has imposed a secret ban on it

Turkey exported military goods to Russia, but now has imposed a secret ban on this Irina Chebotnikova

Russian weapons have Western parts/Collage 24 Channel, photo Getty Images

Ankara helped Russia circumvent sanctions by supplying the occupiers with Western military goods, particularly American ones. But it stopped doing so after a warning from the US.

Such data was reported by sources to the Financial Times. However, the ban on these exports is secret – due to the sensitivity of the issue.

How Turkey supplied military goods to Russia

Turkey exported military products manufactured in the US to Russia. But Washington threatened consequences if this continued.

Therefore, Turkish customs secretly restricted the export of 50 items. It was not announced publicly because the issue is politically sensitive..

The list includes:

• microchips;
• remote control systems;
• processors and memory cards used in missiles and drones;
• machine tools and other equipment.

The US, UK, EU and Japan call these parts critically important for Russian military.

Journalists analyzed government statistics and concluded that: the volume of Turkish exports of these goods has increased more than 12-fold since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion and reached $38 million as of December 2022.

Since the beginning of 2024, the volume of military exports to Russia has begun to decline – by August, this figure had fallen to $4.1 million. This is because the supply chain has expanded to include Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Russia primarily receives Western military components through China: in July 2024, their exports reached $377 million.