Washington called on Ankara to stop purchasing energy from Russia, according to a State Department press release following yesterday’s meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
“The United States echoed President Trump’s call for all NATO allies to stop purchasing Russian energy to end the ongoing war in Ukraine,” the statement read.
Turkey is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil after China and India. According to Bloomberg, it imports approximately 300,000 barrels per day. Turkey also purchases approximately 22 billion cubic meters of gas from Gazprom, which is supplied to the republic via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines.
The current contracts between Gazprom and the Turkish state-owned company Botas expire on December 31. The parties are negotiating the extension of long-term contracts while maintaining these volumes, Bloomberg sources reported.