U.S. officials are pressuring Turkey to stop Russian airlines from flying American-made airplanes to and from the country, said officials familiar with the talks, signaling 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 refueling and spare parts to U.S.-made planes flying to and from Russia and Belarus in violation of export controls imposed last year, the officials said. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Thea Rozman Kendler delivered the message to Turkish officials during a December visit to Turkey, the officials said.
The warning to Turkey is a key test of whether the U.S. 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.
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“At a certain point, they will have to take an enforcement-related action,” said Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant U.S. 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.”
Read more: WSJ
