Turkey proceeded with negotiations with the United States and Russia to obtain a sanctions waiver that would allow continued payments to Gazprombank for Russian natural gas imports, Turkish officials announced, Reuters reports.
According to the report, Turkish Energy Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, said Turkiye needs something similar to solutions as they did with Iranian trade partners when it comes to Gazprombank for it to secure supply.
“These sanctions will affect Turkiye. We cannot pay; if we cannot pay we cannot buy the goods. The Foreign Ministry is in talks,” Bayraktar told reporters late on Monday.
Last week, the new sanctions from the US have been applied on Russia’s Gazprombank as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Turkiye imports almost all its gas needs and Russia is the top supplier, providing more than 50 per cent of its pipeline imports.
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