This is the amount of the increase in Turkish exports to Russia during the month of June. This significant increase in trade between the two countries is surprising given that this volume drops drastically with Moscow’s other trading partners, who fully or partially apply the international sanctions put in place following the invasion of Ukraine.
The business daily The world, who spoke to Turkish experts in the logistics sector, explains that many Russian entrepreneurs have established companies in Turkey, which buy goods from Europe and Asia before sending them to Russia.
Turkey has thus become the main transit point for goods to Russia. A way to help the Russian economy to escape the sanctions, which Ankara refuses to apply, so as not to offend Moscow on which it depends economically and on many geopolitical issues in the Caucasus or in Syria.
Payment in rubles and Mir banking system
The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 5 in Russia paved the way for an even stronger economic partnership between the two countries. Upon his return, the Turkish president thus announced that Ankara would agree to pay part of the gas it buys from Russia in rubles, and no longer in dollars.
A boon for the two countries, which have also agreed on the generalization in Turkey of the Russian banking payment system Mir. An agreement which concerns five Turkish banks in particular and which should benefit Russian businessmen and oligarchs who would make Turkey the hub of their business.
The influx of Russian money into Turkey is, moreover, a lifeline for President Erdogan whose popularity is falling as Turkey’s economic crisis worsens, but it is a dangerous bet.
The Financial Times thus reveals that several officials of Western countries are considering the possibility of imposing sanctions to force Erdogan to backtrack.