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Türkiye and Slovakia Get US Waiver Extension for Gas Payments to Russia

Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
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Türkiye and Slovakia Get US Waiver Extension for Gas Payments to Russia

Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Representation photo: The sun sets behind burning gas flares at the Dora (Daura) Oil Refinery Complex in Baghdad on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Türkiye and Slovakia have received extensions from the United States to waivers for gas payments to Russia, sources told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the extensions would be valid until May.

In November, Washington imposed new sanctions over the Ukraine conflict on Russia's Gazprombank, one of the country's largest banks which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.

Türkiye, along with Hungary and Slovakia, received a US waiver in December, removing a major hurdle to paying for the gas they receive from Russia via the TurkStream gas pipeline.

Türkiye's energy ministry declined to comment, while Türkiye's treasury and Slovakia's economy ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hungary had not commented on the waiver extension at the time of writing.

Türkiye and Hungary receive Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea.

Since the end of Ukraine's transit of Russian gas to Europe at the end of last year, Slovakia has had to rely on supplies from Hungary, but its main gas importer SPP said in February that Gazprom had begun supplying it again, using volumes given up by Hungary on the TurkStream pipeline.

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UK Finance Minister Says Govt to Cut Costs by 15 Percent

A handout picture released by the BBC, taken and received on March 23, 2025, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appearing on the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" political television show in London. (Photo by Jeff OVERS / BBC / AFP)
A handout picture released by the BBC, taken and received on March 23, 2025, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appearing on the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" political television show in London. (Photo by Jeff OVERS / BBC / AFP)
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UK Finance Minister Says Govt to Cut Costs by 15 Percent

A handout picture released by the BBC, taken and received on March 23, 2025, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appearing on the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" political television show in London. (Photo by Jeff OVERS / BBC / AFP)
A handout picture released by the BBC, taken and received on March 23, 2025, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves appearing on the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" political television show in London. (Photo by Jeff OVERS / BBC / AFP)

UK finance minister Rachel Reeves said Sunday she plans to cut the costs of running government by 15 percent within four years, as she grapples with strained public finances.

Her comments came ahead of her crucial Spring Statement on Wednesday when she is expected to detail billions of pounds of spending cuts across various government departments, AFP reported.

"We are, by the end of this parliament, making a commitment that we will cut the costs of running government by 15 percent," she told the BBC.

The broadcaster reported that target would translate to annual savings of £2.2 billion ($2.8 billion) across Britain's civil service, which employs more than 500,000 people.

Reeves said it would be up to individual departments to decide how many civil servants will lose their jobs but added that personnel could be cut by 10,000.

"I would rather have people working on the front line in our schools and our hospitals, in our police, rather than in back-office jobs," she told Sky News.

Reeves also insisted that she will stick to her own fiscal rules when she delivers her financial update on Wednesday.

They are not to borrow to fund day-to-day spending and to see debt fall as a share of the gross domestic product by 2029-2030.

Since she has also committed to not increasing taxes, sticking to the rules raises the prospect of spending cuts to some departments.

The Labour government has failed to get Britain's economy firing since it swept to power last July, a task complicated by Donald Trump's return to the White House.

"The world has changed," Reeves told Sky.

"We can all see that before our eyes, and governments are not inactive in that –- we'll respond to the change and continue to meet our fiscal rules."

Official data released on Friday showed that public sector net borrowing -- the difference between spending and tax receipts -- grew last month, leaving Reeves with little wiggle room to meet her rules.

The restrictions are designed to ensure that the government's spending plans maintain credibility in financial markets.

On Tuesday, the government announced contested cuts to disability welfare payments, hoping to save more than £5 billion annually by the end of the decade.

Reeves insisted Sunday that there would still be "real-terms" increases in total public spending in every year of this parliament, which is due to end in 2029.