Russia and Turkey have agreed to apply a special mechanism for payments for Russian gas supplies, under which payments will remain in Turkey and be used to finance the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. The corresponding statement was made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in Tianjin, China.
According to Erdogan, the parties have successfully completed testing of the clearing mechanism. It will allow using the contractual payments of the Turkish state company Botaş for gas supplied by Gazprom to meet the financial needs of the NPP project.
The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is being built by the Russian state corporation Rosatom. The total cost of the project is estimated at 20 billion dollars. Previously, there were reports of delays in payments to builders and postponement of the commissioning date. The launch of the first power unit, originally scheduled for 2023, was postponed to 2026.
The Turkish company Botaş is an importer of Russian gas under two long-term contracts: for 16 billion cubic meters per year via the Blue Stream gas pipeline and for 5.75 billion cubic meters via the Turkish Stream. Turkey is one of the largest buyers of Gazprom's gas. According to data for the first half of 2025, supplies to the country increased by 27% year-on-year.
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The first power unit of the Akkuyu NPP is planned to be commissioned in 2026