(Dec 20): Türkiye said the US has exempted it from sanctions on Russia’s Gazprombank JSC, allowing Ankara to pay for gas imports.

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Bloomberg on Wednesday that after a series of talks with US officials, the country would be allowed to continue making its gas payments via Gazprombank.

US sanctions imposed last month on Gazprombank, a key financial institution that’s used by countries to keep natural gas flowing, have been a source of concern for many countries including in the European Union. The sanctions are an obstacle for those who use the Russian lender to make the payments. Hungary announced on Wednesday that it’d received an exemption from the sanctions too. 

Bayraktar had previously said Türkiye needed a waiver or else it risked being targeted by the sanctions. More than a third of Türkiye’s natural gas imports come from Russia, according to official data. 

The US Treasury did not immediately return a request seeking comment on the waiver. 

Bloomberg reported that officials in Ankara met with a Russian delegation in November to discuss alternative payment methods. Bayraktar did not comment on those discussions on Wednesday.

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