Natural gas supplies from Russia to Turkey continue and there will be no import problems in the future, according to the head of the Turkish Energy Ministry, Alparslan Bayraktar.
“Russia has always been and remains a reliable supplier of natural gas to Turkey. Gas supplies to our country from Russia continue; there is no crisis, there are no problems and there will be none“, the minister said on Lider TV, commenting on the bill supported by US President Donald Trump, imposing new sanctions against Russia and countries cooperating with it.
Turkey has been importing natural gas from Russia since the late 1980s. “Russian gas is an important source of our imports. Thanks to it, Turkey meets about half of its natural gas needs. “Relations with Russia on energy issues are developing positively“, Bayraktar noted.
Previously, Trump expressed his support for a bill introduced by members of the US Congress that would impose sanctions on countries cooperating with Russia. The bill in question was introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of Senate members. The main authors of the document were Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina, included in the Russian list of terrorists and extremists) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat of Connecticut). The initiative includes secondary sanctions against Russia's trading partners. The lawmakers' proposal included import duties of 500% on imports into the US from countries that buy oil, gas, uranium and other goods from Russia.