Turkey has successfully secured an extension from the United States, allowing it to continue paying for Russian natural gas despite sanctions. The U.S. has agreed to extend the exemption until May, permitting Turkey to maintain its purchases of Russian gas.
This development was confirmed to Bloomberg by an unnamed Turkish official. The previous exemption was set to expire on March 20.
Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen held a phone call earlier this week to “discuss sanctions, as well as other economic and national security matters of mutual interest,” according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In November of last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Gazprombank, which had acted as a payment channel for Russian energy exports. Following this, the U.S. granted exemptions to major importers of Russian energy, including Turkey and Hungary.
