U.S. allows Turkey to pay for Russian gas through sanctioned Gazprombank

The U.S. has granted Turkey an exemption from sanctions imposed on Gazprombank, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.

The exemption allows Turkey to pay for Russian gas through the sanctioned bank. Bayraktar said Turkish officials held “a series of talks” with U.S. counterparts to secure the arrangement.

On December 19, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also announced that the United States had granted Hungary an exemption from sanctions on Gazprombank for payments related to Russian gas.

Since March 2022, Gazprombank had been the sole bank authorized to process such payments. However, after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the bank on November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing foreign buyers of Russian gas to use other Russian banks for payments until April 2025.

Hungary and Turkey had both lobbied for exemptions from the sanctions on Gazprombank. Bloomberg reported that E.U. officials had also urged Washington to ease the restrictions.