Türkiye secures US exemption for Gazprombank sanctions, minister says

ANKARA

The United States has exempted Türkiye from sanctions imposed on Russia’s Gazprombank JSC, thereby allowing Ankara to proceed with its natural gas payments, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has announced.

Following extensive negotiations with U.S. officials, Türkiye secured the right to continue its transactions through Gazprombank, Bayraktar told Bloomberg.

The U.S. sanctions, which were introduced last month against Gazprombank — a pivotal financial conduit facilitating natural gas payments — have raised alarms among several nations, notably countries relying on the Russian financial institution for their energy transactions.

Hungary also disclosed that it had obtained a similar exemption from the restrictions.

As one of Russia's largest banks and partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom, the bank functions as a critical channel for facilitating payments across natural gas and energy sectors.

The U.S. move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, means Gazprombank cannot handle any new energy-related transactions that touch the U.S. financial system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its U.S. assets.

Bayraktar previously underscored the criticality of a waiver, warning that its absence could expose Türkiye to punitive measures. Recalling a precedent during the sanctions on Iran, he noted that Türkiye had been granted a comparable exemption in the past. He added that failing to secure such leniency would have rendered Türkiye a direct target of the sanctions.

The Turkish minister earlier alluded to ongoing deliberations with Russia on alternaitve mechanisms for fulfilling energy payments. In late November, Russian officials visiting Ankara convened with bureaucrats from various ministries to scrutinize potential scenarios that could be employed as contingencies.