Turkey appears to have stopped the transit to Russia of goods under Western sanctions, the heads of Russian logistics companies told the Russian business publication Kommersant, Reuters reports.

“Kommersant” wrote that several managers reported that at the beginning of this week, the Turkish customs began to refuse the transit of goods to Russia and Belarus, if the customs codes of goods from the list of sanctioned goods of the European Union were indicated in the declarations.

Management said Turkish customs officials had implemented a government directive to stop the transit, but the government had not officially announced any changes to Turkey’s transit policy for goods bound for Russia or Belarus.

“Kommersant” also quoted several logistics company executives who announced wider restrictions on the transit of goods destined for Russia and Belarus through Turkey, allowing only the export of goods produced in Turkey.

According to the quoted Russian newspaper, Turkey was the first of the main “friendly” trade partners of the Russian Federation to close the possibility of transit of sanctioned goods to Russia.

Despite the fact that the Turkish authorities did not provide an official explanation, the heads of companies operating on the Russian market said that the blockade was a result of pressure from the European Union.

Last year, Turkey became the main hub for the supply of goods under sanctions to Russia and the export of products that fall under Russia’s (multi-billion dollar) “parallel import” system, which allows the import of Western brands without the permission of license holders. .

(article photo: © Jozsef Soos | Dreamstime.com)