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.



EU and US Have Agreed to Intensify Contact on Trade Talks

FILE PHOTO: An EU flag flutters. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: An EU flag flutters. Reuters
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EU and US Have Agreed to Intensify Contact on Trade Talks

FILE PHOTO: An EU flag flutters. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: An EU flag flutters. Reuters

The EU and US have agreed to intensify talks on a possible trade agreement, EU Commissioner Maros Sefvocic said on Thursday.

"Yesterday I had another constructive call with the US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick," Sefcovic told reporters before a meeting of EU trade ministers in Brussels.

"We have agreed to intensify our engagement at technical levels and I am in regular contact with him. I think we will see each very soon, most probably here in Brussels or at the OECD meetings."