Russians have been waiting for payments for oil for several weeks.
The US threat to impose sanctions on financial institutions doing business with Russia has led to a slowdown in trade between Turkey and the Russian Federation, Reuters reports.
“The US order issued in December did not directly address energy, but it did complicate some Turkish payments for Russian oil, as well as Russian payments for a broader range of Turkish exports,” the agency writes.
Similar payment problems now facing Turkey have already disrupted Russian oil supplies to India and hampered supplies to the United Arab Emirates and China. Problems with payment are due to the fact that Turkish banks are reconsidering their business and strengthening control over Russian clients, sources told Reuters.
An interlocutor from a Russian oil company said that payments from Turkey to Russian oil exporters are delayed by two to three weeks.
“It has become difficult to make some energy payments to Russia, especially after (the threat of) new sanctions at the end of December. Some payments have been disrupted,” a Turkish source familiar with the payment problem told Reuters.
US sanctions against Russian oil
On Thursday, February 8, the United States of America introduced new sanctions against the Russian Federation. The restrictions apply to ships that violate the price limit for Russian oil.
Much of the huge fleet of tankers that Russia uses to deliver its oil is grounded under pressure from US sanctions.
Russia is entering the third year of its war against Ukraine with an unprecedented amount of money in its state coffers, according to CNN. Over the past year, Moscow exported about $37 billion worth of oil to the Asian country, which was a record figure for it.
