Turkish finance minister: Relations with Russia don’t violate rules of global financial systems

Turkiye intends to seek discounts on gas from Russia’s Gazprom, Finance MinisterNureddin Nebati said in an interview with the Financial Times.

The finance minister said Turkiye was pushing hard for a discount on the vast quantity of gas it buys from Russia. Turkiye is also asking Russia’s Gazprom for an option to delay payment. Nebati said he expected "good news” on both fronts.

While US and EU officials fret that Turkiye, a NATO member that shares a Black Sea border with Russia and Ukraine, is relieving financial pressures on Moscow by not participating in western sanctions, Nebati insisted that economic ties between the two countries were "legal”.

"Turkiye is a country that acts very carefully within the international financial system. It’s not a country that behaves in ways that will cause breaches of the international financial system. We’re very clear on this,” Nebati said in a rare interview. "Everything is coming to us through legal routes,” he added.

Nureddin Nebati said "opposition elements” inside and outside Turkiye were "deliberately raising question marks” about the country’s financial links with Russia.

All the money was legitimate, despite concerns in western capitals that using cash makes it impossible to track the true origins of funds, he said.





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