Electronics, machines and others. Turkey secretly banned the export of American military equipment to Russia — FT

This is reported by the Financial Times, citing informed sources.

Turkish customs have limited the export to Russia of US-made military products. The Turkish authorities did not publicly announce the restrictions imposed due to “political sensitivity”, as one of the publication’s sources suggests.

50 items of Western production, which the USA, Great Britain, the EU and Japan call critical for the Russian military, have come under the export ban.

The list of goods banned from export includes electronic components such as microchips, remote control systems, processors and memory cards used in missiles and drones, as well as machine tools and other equipment.

According to government statistics analyzed by the Financial Times, Turkish exports of these goods have increased more than 12-fold since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, reaching $38 million by December 2022.

From the beginning of 2024, the volume of exports of military goods to Russia began to decrease. By August, that figure had fallen to $4.1 million, partly due to an increase in the supply chain, which now includes Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, the FT said.

China remains the main supplier of these goods for Russia, and in July 2024 their exports reached $377 million.

According to the results of 2023, Turkey became the leader in the supply of machine tool equipment to Russia, reported the Russian publication Vazhnye istorii. This allows defense companies to bypass sanctions restrictions and continue to increase the production of military equipment.

Russian troops in Ukraine use Western-made sights, which are supplied through intermediaries from Turkey. In 2022-2023, such sights were imported to Russia in the amount of 16 billion rubles, the publication wrote.