Türkiye will face “consequences” if it continues to allow the sale to Russia of American civilian products with military applications during its conflict with Ukraine, a high-ranking US Commerce Department official has told the Financial Times.
Washington is increasingly concerned that its fellow NATO member-state has become a key hub through which Western-made electronics, including processors, memory cards and amplifiers, are making their way to Russia, where, allegedly, they are being used for the production of missiles and drones, the FT wrote in an article on Wednesday.
An unnamed Commerce Department official told the paper that the US considers Ankara, which refused to join the Western sanctions campaign against Moscow, to be Russia’s second largest source of American dual-use goods, after China.
Türkiye must “help” Washington stop the flow of US technology to Moscow, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, Matthew Axelrod, said in a statement to FT.
“We need to see progress, and quickly, by Turkish authorities and industry or we will have no choice but to impose consequences on those that evade our export controls,” he warned.
Hellbound and Down 