According to Bloomberg’s report, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had discussed gas prices with Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed his hope for a reduction in gas purchases.
“I discussed gasoline prices with Putin, I hope to get a discount,” Erdogan said.
At the same time, the Turkish president emphasized that his country does not have problems with gas supplies from Russia, since it does not impose sanctions on Moscow.
“Thank God, we do not have such a problem so far. Russia does not impose any sanctions against us. I also had a meeting with Putin about the price. If his position is positive, the most affordable prices will be provided for our people,” he said.
He added that Ankara has set a goal of providing cheap gas to the citizens of the country by 2023 through the extraction of raw materials inside the country. Turkey will invest approximately 10 billion dollars in the development of the Sakarya field in the Black Sea, whose reserves are estimated to be 540 billion cubic meters.
“The reserves of this field will not be export-oriented, but will contribute to the domestic economy,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish President also predicted winter hardships for Europeans against the backdrop of the energy crisis. He believes the EU will have to go to high financial costs. Erdogan has already stated that energy problems in European countries arise because of his actions against Moscow. According to him, “Europe reaps what it sows.”
In mid-August, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez announced that Ankara refused to participate in sanctions against Moscow in the energy sector. He noted that Turkey purchased approximately 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2021 and is targeting the same figure in 2022.
The energy crisis in Europe began against the background of the imposition of sanctions on Russia for the conflict in Ukraine – the restrictions affected the import of oil and coal from Russia and will also affect the volume of gas purchases in the future. In August, EU countries agreed on a plan to reduce gas consumption by 15% by the end of March 2023.
Grain for Turkey
Erdogan also talked about his plans to ask Putin to start Russian food shipments via the grain corridor at the meeting to be held in Samarkand.
“If Russian grain starts to arrive, we will organize all this in the most ideal way and combine it in a certain system until it reaches these poor African countries and sends this grain, other products and everything else,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish President claimed that Moscow “does not send Russian goods” because the ships passing through the grain corridor are “sent to the developed countries” instead of the poor.
There are many countries in Africa that are in a difficult situation, and we need to reach these countries as soon as possible and send these products to them,” he said.
At a session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 7, Putin said that Russia would insist that the food deal be aimed at improving the situation in world markets in general, not in Europe.
“We have done everything to ensure that this agreement is formed, we are committed to them. We provide everything. It turns out that once again, as people say, they roughly “threw”. They cheated. And not just us, but also the poorest countries under the pretext of reaching a deal,” he said.
He then also announced his intention to discuss with Erdogan the possibility of limiting the export of grain and other food from Ukraine to Europe as it is not supplied to poor countries.
Out of 87 ships leaving Ukrainian ports, 32 are going to Turkey, 30 to EU countries, seven to Egypt, three to South Africa and Israel, and two to Yemen and Djibouti as part of UN programs.
On July 22, a package of documents was signed in Istanbul to solve the problem of food and fertilizer supply to world markets. One of the agreements regulates the procedure for exporting grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN set up a coordination center in Istanbul to screen grain vessels to prevent arms smuggling.