Source told the newspaper the West needs “to close loopholes”
The US and the EU are stepping up pressure on Turkey’s financial sector to prevent Ankara from helping Moscow evade sanctions. The issue is particularly about Turkish banks that are integrated into Russia’s domestic payments system Mir, the Financial Times wrote on Thursday citing sources.
The US is focusing on Turkish banks that have integrated into the Mir processing system, the newspaper said.
Brussels is also preparing a delegation to Tukey to express its concerns to the country’s officials directly, according to the publication. The EU’s financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness is aiming to visit Turkey next month. A senior EU official told the paper McGuinness had recently visited a number of countries to discuss issues related to financial services, and the implementation of sanctions in particular.
“You’re going to see us kind of focus on financial sector evasion. We’ll send a message very clearly that, for example, third-country financial institutions should not be interconnecting with the Mir payment network because, you know, that carries some sanctions-evasion risks,” said one of the sources.
Another source told the newspaper the West needs “to close loopholes,” citing Turkey as the major target.
Mir cards are accepted in five Turkish banks, including Turkiye Is Bankasi, Ziraat Bankasi, VakifBank, DenizBank, and Halkbank.
Turkiye Is Bankasi told FT it took the necessary measures to carry out Mir card transactions in compliance with this policy. DenizBank said it did not execute transactions with sanctioned banks, and it fully complied with international sanctions on Russia.
Source: TASS
