Presidents of Russia and Turkey Putin and Erdogan agreed on partial payment of gas in rubles
Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Putin and Erdogan, agreed on partial payment of gas in rubles during their recent meeting.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Turkey promised to partially pay for Russian gas in rubles, Interfax reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on this with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan during talks in Sochi.
We are gradually switching to payment in national currency, part of the supplies will already be paid in Russian rubles. This is indeed a new stage that opens up new opportunities, including for the development of our monetary and financial relations.
Alexander Novak
Novak stressed that today Russia annually exports about 26 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey.
According to him, the heads of state also discussed the financial and banking bloc and reached a number of agreements in these areas.
Today, within the framework of the talks, crucial decisions were reached, which are reaching a new level of development in our trade relations, economy, and almost all sectors.
Alexander Novak
The Deputy Prime Minister added that earlier Putin and Erdogan agreed to achieve a trade turnover of $ 100 billion a year. He noted that companies and citizens of both countries should be able to pay in national currencies during tourist trips and in the process of commodity turnover.
Putin-Erdogan talks
The meeting of the two leaders in the Sochi sanatorium “Rus” lasted more than four hours. The talks were planned to touch upon the topics of cooperation, the effectiveness of the mechanism for the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, as well as the state of affairs in Syria and Ukraine.
The politicians discussed the key importance of trusting relations between Moscow and Ankara for achieving international stability. “On regional issues, the leaders stressed the key importance of sincere, frank and trusting relations between Russia and Turkey for achieving regional and international stability,” the two leaders said in a statement following the talks.
Putin and Erdogan also confirmed the need for full compliance with the grain deal’s conditions, including lifting sanctions on the part of the food and agricultural exports from Russia.
The need to ensure the full implementation of the Istanbul package deal in accordance with its spirit and letter, including the unimpeded export of Russian grain, fertilizers and raw materials for their production, was emphasized.
Kremlin
The politicians also confirmed the will to develop bilateral relations further based on. “Despite the current regional and global challenges, the leaders reaffirmed the common will to further develop Russian-Turkish relations on the basis of respect, recognition of mutual interests and in accordance with their international obligations,” the document says.
Gas for rubles
At the end of March, Putin announced his intention to transfer payment for Russian gas supplies to European countries to rubles. Later, the government published a scheme for which payment would take place. According to it, buyers will open accounts in Gazprombank in rubles and euros, and the credit institution will independently purchase rubles in the domestic market from foreign currency payments for gas.
Subsequently, the authorities of some countries, as well as individual companies, refused to comply with these conditions. It caused Gazprom to stop deliveries to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands.
In June, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Western companies that refused to pay under the new rules had already been disconnected from Russian gas supplies.
