The ambassador announced serious difficulties in relations with Turkey due to sanctions

Tightening US sanctions at the end of 2023 caused serious difficulties in trade and economic relations between RUSSIA and Turkey, Russian Ambassador in Ankara Alexey Erkhov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The ambassador said that the diplomatic mission has to deal with this issue, in addition to solving ordinary problems.

Russian Consul General in Istanbul Andrei Buravov, in a conversation with the agency, named among the current problems the difficulties with making payments from Russia to Turkish banks for Turkish goods already delivered to the country. According to the diplomat, this primarily harms Turkish suppliers.

Buravov assured that Russian and Turkish departments and companies are developing alternative payment mechanisms.

Massive problems with payments for Russian companies began on January 1. Turkish exporters stopped receiving payments in lira and rubles; some Turkish banks sent transactions that had already been accepted back to Russia, explaining that the transactions concerned “prohibited goods.” Turkish financial organizations refused to cooperate with Russian ones, broke correspondent relationships and suspended payment processing without formally closing the contract.

By February 1, some Russian companies had their accounts in Turkey closed, and the requirements for issuing bank cards to individuals were tightened.

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The disruptions are due to measures taken by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which is responsible for imposing sanctions. At the end of December 2023, American President Joe Biden signed a law authorizing the introduction of restrictions against foreign banks and other financial institutions involved in transactions related to supplies for the Russian defense industry. Sanctions include prohibiting the opening or restricting the use of correspondent accounts in the United States, as well as blocking property in the United States.

Moscow considers the sanctions illegal. The Kremlin announced in early February that it was conducting a dialogue with the Turkish authorities about problems with payments.