The European Union (EU) is planning to ask third countries that have seen a surge in imports from the EU of advanced technologies and other goods that could be used for military purposes by Russia in Ukraine to enhance trade monitoring, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported.

Exports of advanced semiconductors, integrated circuits, and other technologies from the EU and Group of Seven (G7) nations to Russia have fallen significantly since sanctions and export controls were introduced.

But shipments from the EU and G7 to countries such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and a half-dozen other economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have soared, and in turn exports from those nations to Russia has surged.

It was reported earlier that the Turkish authorities, in accordance with the Western sanctions on Russia, ordered to stop the transit of sanctioned goods via Turkey as of March 1.

The media reported that the customs system suddenly started to block the declaration of goods under the EU sanctions. But there were no official clarifications from Ankara in this regard.