Turkey continues to refuel the planes of Russian airlines despite the sanctions, based on the fact that there is no complete ban on the refueling and maintenance of airliners from Russia.
According to Middle East Eye, each company independently decides whether to service the aircraft or not.
According to the article, after receiving a warning from the USA, the two largest providers of ground services – Havas and TGS stopped serving Russian airliners, but small companies still provide service to Russians.
The American authorities imposed sanctions against the planes of Russian and Belarusian airlines back in March 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions prohibited refueling and any servicing of Boeings and other airliners from Russia and Belarus, which contain more than 25% of components from the USA.
On January 26, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that last December, senior US officials threatened Turkish individuals with prison terms, fines and loss of export privileges if they provided refueling and parts services for US-made aircraft flying from Turkey to Russia and Belarus and back, violating export controls introduced last spring.
Since March 14, the Ministry of Customs and Trade of Turkey has banned the servicing of American planes operated by Russian and Belarusian airlines.
The largest Turkish operator of ground handling of flights, Havaş, refused to service the aircraft of carriers from Russia, which fell under the export sanctions of the United States.
