FT reports EU concerns over Russia-Turkey rapprochement

The West is increasingly concerned about the rapprochement between Russia and Turkey in trade and energy spheres, Ankara is urged to pay attention to this concern, writes FT.The day before, Putin and Erdogan agreed to pay for Russian gas in rubles Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Western authorities are increasingly concerned about deepening economic cooperation between Russia and Turkey and the growing risk of secondary sanctions against Ankara if it helps Moscow bypass the restrictions. The Financial Times writes about this, citing six sources among Western officials.

The newspaper calls the statement of Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made after a meeting on Friday, August 5, in Sochi, the reason for increasing the concern of Western officials. They declared their readiness to expand cooperation in trade and energy spheres.

One of the European officials said that the European Union is following the cooperation between Moscow and Ankara "more and more closely." In his opinion, Turkey is increasingly becoming a platform for trade with Russia. Another assessed Ankara's actions towards Moscow as "very opportunistic". “We are trying to get the Turks to pay attention to our concerns,” he stressed.

Erdogan confirmed the agreement to pay for Russian gas in rubles Politics

Western countries may call on businesses to leave the Turkish market or reduce their presence in it if official Ankara sticks to the agreement with Moscow announced on August 4, one of the senior Western officials interviewed by the Financial Times said. According to the publication, if Western companies and banks comply, this could cause economic damage to Turkey in the amount of $ 800 billion. According to the FT source, such a measure can be approved "in light of the risk that will be created due to Turkey's expansion of its relations with Russia" .

However, other Western officials interviewed by the newspaper did not agree that such a decision could be made. They noted the lack of clarity on how the restriction mechanism against Turkey would work from a practical and legal point of view, and also "whether such a move would be a good idea," writes the FT.

“There are very significant economic interests [of Western business in Turkey] that are likely to conflict with such malevolent actions,” one of the newspaper’s interlocutors stressed. At the same time, he noted that it is impossible to exclude "any negative actions" in case of "too much rapprochement" between Russia and Turkey. According to him, secondary sanctions against Turkey will be a difficult decision for the EU against the backdrop of disagreements among member countries, but a number of countries can take restrictive measures on their own.

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Brussels has not yet discussed possible sanctions against Turkey, three European officials told the FT. Several other interlocutors of the newspaper noted that all the details and consequences of the talks between Putin and Erdogan in Sochi are still unclear.

Turkey sharply increased exports to Russia amid sanctions Economics

We are talking about the talks between the presidents of Russia and Turkey, which were held in Sochi on 5 August. The meeting lasted about four hours. According to the adopted statement, part of the payment for Russian gas supplies to Turkey will be converted into rubles. Putin and Erdogan also called for the full implementation of the agreement on grain exports, including the supply of Russian food and fertilizers to the world market, and agreed to defend the sovereignty of Libya and the territorial integrity of Syria.

“We agreed with Putin to pay in rubles [for natural gas trade]. We hope that this will bring financial benefits to both countries,” Erdogan then said. He added that five Turkish banks are working on the start of using the Mir card. “There are also very serious developments here,” the Turkish President emphasized.

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