ANKARA, January 16. /TASS/. The recent problems with money transfers between Russia and Turkey are related to new regulatory measures by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a source in the Turkish banking sector told TASS.
"On December 22, a new OFAC regulatory action order was published. Its language is very broad. According to these rules, as stated, foreign banks that support Russia’s military efforts may also be subject to sanctions. In fact, providing intermediary services in all transactions except food products and medicine, is essentially prohibited. Since the published regulatory measures are so broadly worded, there is a need for additional clarification," the source said.
He noted that it is for this reason that there are interruptions in financial transactions between Russia and Turkey. In fact, banks are "in standby mode," he said.
Earlier, the Turkish newspaper Ekonomim reported citing sources in the business community, that Turkish exporters faced the problem of banks refusing to process money transfers from Russia intended to pay for the supply of goods. Last December many exporters began to complain that they could not receive payments in Turkish lira and rubles from Russia.
Such transfers were either sent back directly by some private banks or rejected at the initial stage of the transaction, allegedly due to the fact that the payment was made for sanctioned products. According to the newspaper, such money transfers have almost stopped since January 1.
Ekonomim notes that the problems with money transfers are due to the expansion of Western sanctions and Turkish banks and intermediaries being wary of secondary sanctions. Banks often play it safe, refusing to make payments even for goods from companies not included in the sanctions lists.