Russia transferred over $5 billion to Turkey through American banks, allegedly to finance the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Russia transferred several large tranches in the months after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and was planning to transfer even more. The purpose of the payments was stated to be financing the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is being run by “Rosatom”. The transactions were carried out with the participation of American banks JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. The US Department of Justice drew attention to this.
American experts believe that the construction of Akkuyu was used to circumvent US sanctions against the Russian Central Bank, sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ. According to the publication, the money was transferred to Turkey so that the Kremlin could use it to finance its initiatives abroad.
The US has blocked several transfers worth $2 billion. In 2024, prosecutors were working on the possibility of confiscating this money as proceeds from sanctions evasion, but the administration of former President Joe Biden stopped the initiative, fearing a deterioration in relations with Turkey. After all, the country is an important US ally in the issue of prisoner exchanges, the fight against terrorism, stabilizing the situation in Syria and ending the war in the Gaza Strip.
The WSJ claims that the idea to use American banks in the operation belonged to the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina and other senior Russian officials. The scheme used financial institutions against which Western countries did not impose sanctions in order to avoid a collapse of global markets.
In this way, Moscow sought to create an offshore dollar reserve to finance Russian interests beyond the attention of America. According to the Kremlin’s plan, the Akkuyu NPP could transfer money to Russian companies with accounts at Turkey’s largest bank, Ziraat. In this case, there would be no need to conduct transactions through the United States.
Turkey was interested in this scheme because it was able to attract dollars into the country, which are desperately needed to combat rising inflation. The US Department of Justice believes that one of the main aides to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the head of Turkeyʼs National Intelligence Organization, Ibrahim Kalin, may have been involved in the scheme. This is what made Washington fear a deterioration in relations with Ankara in the event of confiscation of the money.
Rosatom stated that all the transferred funds were allegedly used for the construction of Akkuyu.
- Unlike other NATO allies, Turkey did not impose sanctions on Russia when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Instead, they have deepened their economic partnership. For example, Turkey has asked the US to allow it to pay for gas through Russiaʼs “Gazprombank”, despite the sanctions.
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