Turkey halted the transit of Western-sanctioned goods to Russia this month, a top export official and a diplomat said.
The Turkish government handed companies a list of banned foreign goods and instructed them not to transship those to Russia beginning on March 1, according to head of the Istanbul Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals Exporters Association Cetin Tecdelioglu.
"Any goods on that list are blocked from Russia no matter which country they come from," Reuters cited him as saying.
A European Union official said that Ankara had given the European Commission verbal assurance that from March 1 goods would not transit onward to Russia if they are covered by EU, U.S. or UK sanctions and export controls.
Given the "serious warnings" from Western governments, this was an "opportunity" to avoid a confrontation with the EU, the destination of half of Turkish exports under a joint customs union, Tecdelioglu told reporters.
"There was a list of restrictions on re-exports from free trade zones to Russia beginning in March, and an instruction was given," he said, adding that goods produced in Turkey even with components from other countries can still be shipped to Russia without restrictions.
Turkey's trade ministry declined to comment.
