Turkey postponed payment of $600 million to Russia for gas — Reuters

Turkey has postponed the payment of a $600 million natural gas bill to Russia until 2024, the first such delay as part of an agreement announced last week that underscores the deepening of ties between Ankara and Moscow. This is reported by Reuters with reference to its sources.

Photo: pixabay.com 1

► Read the Ministry of Finance Telegram channel: the main financial news

According to the terms of the agreement, up to $4 billion in Turkish energy payments to Russia can be postponed until next year, both sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Details of the agreement were not previously disclosed.

Turkey, which is preparing for elections on Sunday, is highly dependent on energy imports, and Russia is its largest supplier.

The gas payment agreement somewhat reduces the pressure on Turkey’s currency reserves, which have been depleted by unorthodox economic policies aimed at supporting the lira, as well as rising energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

Officially, the payment in the amount of 600 million dollars was postponed to the following hour. The rise in energy prices had a huge impact on this,” said one of the sources.

The interlocutor added that Turkey can postpone such payments in the coming months depending on the dynamics of energy prices.

The Russian and Turkish energy ministries, as well as the respective energy companies Gazprom and Botas, did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

Read also: Turkey announced a new date for negotiations on the “grain agreement”

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said last week that Ankara and Moscow had concluded an agreement allowing Ankara to delay payments for energy sources up to a certain amount, but did not provide details.

The agreement emphasizes the ties between Russia and Turkey, and the closeness between Presidents Putin and Erdogan allows them to conduct frequent negotiations on various issues, from energy to the wars in Ukraine and Syria, Reuters reminds.

Turkey tried to find a balance in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The country was against Western sanctions against Moscow, but at the same time provided weapons to Kyiv. Ankara also helped to conclude an agreement that allowed to resume supplies of Ukrainian grain.

Conference “Invest Talk Summit” Find out how to make money on investments in 2023-2024! Details on the website.

Promo code for a 10% discount: minfin10.

🕵️ We created a small survey to learn more about our readers.

💛💙 Your answers will help us become the best, pay more attention to topics that are interesting to you. 🤗 We will be grateful if you find a minute to answer our questions.

Source: Ministry of Finance

Views: 15