Recently, some banks in Turkey have begun the process of closing accounts of Russian clients, Vedomosti reported, citing businessmen, financial advisers and representatives of business associations. This decision followed the announcement by the US President of the introduction of secondary sanctions in December 2023, after which Turkish banks began to massively refuse to cooperate with Russian companies and citizens.

Before the imposition of sanctions, there were four banks in Turkey that were open to cooperation with Russia, two of which were threatened with inclusion in the US SDN list, which led to the closure of correspondent accounts of most Russian companies and banks. The remaining "semi-omnivorous" banks began to sever ties mainly with clients who became their users after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.

Russian companies receive notices asking them to close their accounts within a specified period. However, Turkish state banks continue to make separate payments in national currencies for goods included in the “green list”, which includes food and pharmaceutical products.

As Iskander Mirgalimov, a consultant for Russian businesses on structuring international payments, points out, servicing corporate clients with Russian roots has been completely stopped, regardless of the country of registration. This primarily concerns companies using Turkey as transit for payments and deliveries, as well as oil and gas traders.

According to the owner of one of the large trading brokers, the process of closing accounts began in 2022, but recently it has been intensifying. However, Arsen Ayupov, president of the Russian-Turkish Dialogue Association, does not confirm the massive nature of such actions, claiming that he had no information about the large-scale closure of accounts of Russian companies, which could be a “serious wake-up call” for business.