A quarter of Russian gas supplies to Türkiye will be paid for in rubles, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, stressing that an agreement on this would come into force soon.
Putin made the comments during a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan.
“Our agreement on deliveries of Russian natural gas to Türkiye should come into effect in the near future, with 25% of the payment for these deliveries in Russian rubles,” Putin said.
Since Western countries imposed sweeping sanctions over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has sought to conduct as many transactions as possible in currencies other than dollars or euros – the usual default currencies for energy contracts, in particular.
It has also demanded that payments for some gas exports be made in rubles, in some cases in contravention of existing contract terms. Several European Union member states, including Poland and Bulgaria, have had gas supplies from Russia cut off after refusing to make the ruble payments.
Putin also dubbed Türkiye a “reliable route” for gas deliveries from Russia.
Türkiye has criticized Moscow’s invasion and provided Ukraine with arms, including drones, which played a significant role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, while refusing to join the West in imposing sanctions on Russia – a stance that has helped its mediation efforts reap results.
Türkiye increasingly relies on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas covers almost half of Turkish energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency Rosatom is building the country’s first nuclear power plant.
The Turkish government aims to start operating the first reactor at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant by the middle of 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Türkiye.
The remaining three reactors are due to start operation by the end of 2026, at a rate of one per year to ultimately have a total installed capacity of 4,800 megawatts (MW).
Putin also said Moscow and Ankara signed final documents related to the construction of the Akkuyu plant and expressed hope that the power plant will become operational in 2023, as planned.
Türkiye’s annual gas consumption rose from 48 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2020 to a record 60 bcm in 2021 and is expected to reach 62 bcm to 63 bcm this year, according to official figures.
Türkiye is said to have increased oil imports from Russia, including Urals and Siberian Light grades, beyond 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far this year compared to just 98,000 bpd for the same period of 2021.
