What do we know about Turkey’s ban on the transit of sanctioned goods to Russia?

Last week, the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of the Treasury presented recommendations on combating the circumvention of sanctions against Russia. The departments have called the supply of goods via Armenia, Turkey and Uzbekistan suspicious.

In addition, the US has promised whistleblower rewards of 10-30% of the fine authorities impose for sanctions violations.

As one of the market participants told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, problems with customs clearance of goods in transit through Turkey arose on March 7. On March 9, Turkish Customs explained that they will not process the transit of goods with HS codes that are on the EU sanctions list, but there are still no official clarifications.

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p class=””>According to the CEO of Optimal Logistics Georgy Vlastopulo, we are talking about all goods not of local origin, i.e. imported to Turkey, mainly from the EU, USA and Canada. Market participants note that they are looking for ways to resolve the situation, but prefer not to disclose them.

The list of sanctioned goods that hostile countries have banned from importing to Russia includes not only machine tools, pipes and sophisticated equipment, but also tobacco, shoes, carpets, furs, clothes, watches and alcoholic beverages.

For Russian consumers, transit issues can lead to higher prices. Now the cargo will have to be cleared with all taxes and fees paid, registered as Turkish and transported to Russia. In the long term, Russia can establish parallel imports via countries with low entry thresholds and no import duties/VAT, such as Bahrain.