US warns Turkey against helping Russia 'bypass American sanctions': Report
The United States has reportedly warned Turkey against helping Russia bypass the American sanctions that have been imposed on Moscow over its ongoing war on Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal carried the report on Friday, citing unnamed American officials.
According to the report, the US is speculating that Turkey may be aiding Russia to circumvent the bans, saying Ankara's suspected role could involve a "ghost fleet" created to carry Russian oil.
Turkish officials, it added, were also suspected of allowing sanctioned Russian vessels to berth at Turkey's harbors.
"We have an ongoing dialog with the Turkish government on these issues," one diplomat told the newspaper.
"Our sincere hope is to avoid a scenario in which a Turkish company is sanctioned, and we’ve worked with both the government and private sector to inform them of the very real risks."
The US and its allies have been piling up sanctions on Russia since last February when Russia began the war.
Moscow says it started the warfare in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" its neighbor.
Russia holds that the West's anti-Russian agendas, including its eagerness for inclusion of Ukraine in NATO -- and, therefore, the Western military alliance's expansion right up to Russia's borders -- forced Moscow to launch the war on Kiev.
In addition to slapping sanctions against Moscow, Western countries have been pumping Ukraine full of tens of billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons. Moscow says both measures would only complicate the standing situation and prolong the hostilities.
Turkey, also a NATO member, has, however, decided against joining the campaign, and has even deepened its economic cooperation and bilateral trade with Russia.
The Journal further noted growing concerns on the part of Washington and its allies that the impact of the Western sanctions on Russia was beginning to diminish, and stated that the allies were actively working to tighten enforcement of the restrictions.
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