Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on partial payment of Russian gas in rubles. This was reported by TASS with reference to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Oleksandr Novak.
"An important component was the discussion of the supply of gas to Türkiye, which is supplied in a fairly large volume — 26 billion cubic meters annually. In the course of the negotiations, the presidents agreed that we will start partially supplying gas and paying in rubles," the newcomer said following the meeting between Putin and Erdogan in Sochi.
Novak noted that the Russian Federation and Türkiye are talking about a gradual transition to payments in national currencies.
In addition, Putin and Erdogan also discussed the financial and banking sector of the economy and "reached great deals."
"Today, we essentially delivered on the presidentʼs mission to reach $100 billion in trade and simplify the procedures that allow our businesses to communicate," Novak said.
- On March 31, Putin signed a decree according to which, from April 1, 2022, "unfriendly countries" are obliged to pay for gas in Russian rubles, otherwise, there will be no supplies. Under the new Russian mechanism, European companies will continue to pay Gazprombank for their imports in euros, guaranteeing that they will not violate the sanctions regime. Then this, Gazprombank, which is not under EU sanctions, at their request, converts the euro deposits into rubles for further payment. Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands have already renounced these conditions.