ISTANBUL, Turkey —
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that Turkey will start
paying for some of its Russian natural gas imports in rubles.
اضافة اعلان
The announcement
was initially made by Moscow late Friday after more than four hours of talks
between Erdogan and Russian President
Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
The US is leading
international efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia in response to its
February invasion of Ukraine.
But
NATO member
Turkey has tried to remain neutral in the conflict because of its heavy
dependence on Russian energy.
Russia accounted for
about a quarter of Turkey’s oil imports and 45 percent of its natural gas
purchases last year.
“As Turkey, our
door is open to everyone,” Erdogan was quoted Saturday as telling Turkish
reporters on his flight home from Sochi.
“One good thing
about this Sochi visit is that we agreed on the ruble with Mr Putin,” Erdogan
said.
“Since we will
conduct this trade in rubles, it will of course bring money to Turkey and
Russia.”
Neither Erdogan nor
Russian officials have said what portion of the gas will be covered by ruble
payments.
Avoiding paying for
the gas in dollars helps Turkey protect its dwindling hard currency reserves.
The Turkish
government is reported to have spent tens of billions of dollars in the past
year trying to prop up the lira against steep declines during its latest
economic crisis.
The lira has still
lost 55 percent of its value against the dollar and consumer prices have soared
by 80 percent in the past 12 months.
The crisis has
complicated Erdogan’s path to a third decade in power in elections due by next
July.
The US and
EU are
trying to pressure Russia’s energy clients from switching to ruble payments to
limit Moscow’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine.
Ruble payments help
Russia avoid restrictions on dollar transactions with Moscow that the US is
trying to impose on global banks.
Turkey has refused
to join the sanctions regime against Russia and instead pushed for truce talks
between Moscow and Kyiv.
Erdogan and Putin
pledged in Sochi to expand economic cooperation in sectors including banking
and industry.
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