NATO Chief: Turkey Is Informed Alliance Expects All Members to Impose Sanctions Against Russia

Shortly after Russia launched a special military operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, the US and its Western allies imposed packages of strict sanctions against Moscow.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Turkey has been informed that the alliance expects all members to impose sanctions on Russia amid Moscow's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

"Yes, we expect all our allies to impose the sanctions. This is how we can force Russia to pay the price. I also informed Mr [Mevlut] Cavusoglu about this. Turkey plays a key role here", Stoltenberg said referring to the Turkish foreign minister.

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin has since said that his country is not planning to impose sanctions against Russia at the moment as Ankara wants to maintain a dialogue of trust with Moscow.

The statement follows EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell saying on Thursday that the bloc had reached the limit of its capabilities to impose financial sanctions on Russia. Referring to a possible ban on Russian gas and oil - a measure that was earlier taken by the US - Borrell said that it would be much more difficult for the EU to do than for Washington.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden announced an embargo on all imports of Russian oil and gas, which prompted further spikes in global energy prices.

West Sanctions Russia Over Its Special Op in Ukraine

Moscow's special military operation to demilitarise and "de-Nazify" Ukraine was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 24 February, following a request by the DPR and LPR for help amid intensifying attacks by the Ukrainian Army. Russia's Defence Ministry has repeatedly underlined that the country's armed forces are only targeting Ukraine's military infrastructure with high-precision weapons and that Ukrainian civilians are not in danger.

In response, the United States, the United Kingdom, members of the European Union, and several other countries imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia. Some of them closed their airspace to all Russian flights, sanctioned a number of Russian banks and officials

The Kremlin condemned the sanctions as an "unprecedented economic war" waged against Russia by the West, warning that Western countries' aggressive stance against Moscow makes the situation in the energy sector very complicated.

Dmitry Birichevsky, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's economic cooperation department, for his part, pledged that Moscow would work out targeted trade and financial restrictions to Western sanctions introduced after the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine.

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