Turkey Is Happy To Pay In Roubles For Natural Gas Supply From Russia
Turkey–Everyone’s enemy is my friend- is the diplomacy mantra that Turkey follows as it opens wide its arms to embrace the heavily sanctioned Russia by agreeing to trade half in roubles for purchase of natural gas.
Wanting to do away with the dominant US currency, Russia has been pushing for payments to be made for natural gas in its home currency only. Russia has been heavily sanctioned due to its attack on Ukraine.
But Turkey and some other countries are moving in steadily to build relations with Russia despite the western sanctions. This week, Vladimir Putin signed agreements of cooperation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both countries have also agreed to set up a partial payment system for Russian gas in roubles, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said after the talks.
Turkey has been vehemently against the inclusion of certain nations in the NATO band. Russia has never seen eye to eye with the west over NATO participations. Both have much in common when it comes to supporting internal strife in various Middle eastern nations as well.
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In the recently concluded meetings that happened at the Black Sea, Erdogan said the meeting would “open a very different page in Turkey-Russia relations”. The two leaders agreed to ramp up trade and boost economic and energy cooperation with a focus on transport, agriculture, tourism, and construction.
Turkey has been a few of those nations who have not signed the boycott plan by the UN Security Council over Russian moves in Ukraine.
The announcement to deepen ties comes after the leak of a Russian proposal intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence indicated Russia hoped to use Turkey to evade western sanctions. Further, Turkey has gone out to play an integral role in the Ukrainian war. While it has sold armed drones to Kyiv, the country has also been mediating between both sides. Ankara helped broker a UN deal in July allowing for the resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments from the Black Sea.