Erdogan confirms that Turkey will pay for part of its Russian gas imports in rubles

by Daniel Stewart
Source: News 360

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Saturday on his return from a visit to Russia that the Turkish government will begin paying for a portion of its Russian gas imports in rubles.

“We are Turkey and our door is open for everyone,” he explained Erdogan after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the town of Sochi on Friday.

“One good thing we took out of that meeting is that we have agreed on the ruble with Mr. Putin, and since we will conduct this (gas) trade in rubles, it is clear that Turkey and Russia are going to make money,” he has commented in statements reported by the official Turkish news agency Anatolia.

This is in addition to an agreement in principle whereby five Turkish banks plan to adopt Russia’s Mir payment system to facilitate transactions, he added after being informed of the simultaneous meeting in the Russian city of the respective governors of the Russian and Turkish central banks.

Neither Erdogan nor Russia have specified how much of the gas will be covered by payments in rubles.

While Turkey expressed its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has so far refrained from joining U.S. and European sanctions against Russia to facilitate a “mediating” role in the crisis. Turkey has already announced that thanks to this performance it will be able to purchase Ukrainian and Russian grain at below market prices.

Ankara has also continued to import energy from Russia, which provided a quarter of its crude oil imports and about 45% of its natural gas deliveries last year.

Russia has also provided Turkey with much-needed foreign currency liquidity by transferring billions of dollars to a subsidiary of Turkey-based Russian nuclear operator Rosatom to complete construction of a power plant on the Mediterranean coast.