expansion of trade relations
Turks pay for gas in rubles, Russians build nuclear power plants
08/05/2022 8:24 p.m
Despite “global challenges”, Russia and Turkey want to work more closely together. It’s all about economic cooperation. Whether military business is also part of this is not known. Presidents Putin and Erdogan allegedly did not talk about this.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed on increased cooperation on economic and energy issues. According to the Kremlin, at their meeting in Sochi on the Black Sea, the two agreed to expand relations between the two countries “despite the current regional and global challenges”. This includes an expansion of trade relations and increased cooperation in the fields of business and energy.
For example, the conditions for cooperation are to be made easier for Russian and Turkish companies. The Turkish nuclear power plant Akkuyu, which is being built by a Russian state-owned company, was also discussed at the four-hour meeting, said Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, according to the TASS agency. In addition, both sides had agreed that Turkey would in future pay for Russian gas in rubles.
Putin and Erdogan also confirmed their willingness to implement a recently concluded agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain. The need to “ensure full implementation of the package agreement” was stressed, Russian agencies quoted from a joint statement by the two heads of state.
Drones are not mentioned
Two weeks ago, with Turkish mediation, among others, Moscow and Kyiv agreed on an agreement to release grain exports, which had been blocked in Ukraine for months because of Russia’s war of aggression. However, Russia has always emphasized that in return it expects a lifting of Western sanctions that indirectly affect its own grain, food and fertilizer exports. That is what is meant when Moscow insists on the so-called package character of the agreement.
Last Monday, the first ship loaded with corn left the port of Odessa. According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, three more ships carrying grain from Ukraine left on Friday. Because of the war, all of Ukraine’s grain exports from its Black Sea ports have been blocked for the past few months, contributing to a global food crisis.
What was eagerly awaited was whether Putin and Erdogan would talk about a possible acquisition of Turkish combat drones by Russia. In the course of its war against Ukraine, Moscow recently expressed interest in the Bayraktar TB2 weapons. In the evening, however, journalists from the state news agency Ria Nowosti said that the two presidents had not addressed the issue.