Bloomberg said that under the proposal, Türkiye would bear part of the cost of building the $20 billion Akkuyu nuclear power plant from Russian state energy corporation Rosatom.
In return, Rosatom will pay the equivalent amount in rubles to gas exporter Gazprom, which will then deduct this from Türkiye's monthly gas import bill.
The move allows Russia to maintain capital flows into the Akkuyu project without using international banking transactions - which are under close scrutiny due to concerns about violating Western sanctions.
Although Rosatom, Gazprom or the Akkuyu project have not been directly sanctioned, payments between Russia and Türkiye are facing difficulties as banks fear the risk of being caught up in US sanctions.
The gas swap is one of many creative ways Russia has sought to circumvent Western efforts to isolate it over the conflict in Ukraine. It also shows the direct impact of sanctions on one of Turkey’s key energy projects, a NATO country that has tried to maintain neutrality between Russia and Ukraine.
Türkiye typically pays between 300 million and 800 million euros a month for gas imports from Russia, according to one source. Rosatom and the Turkish Energy Ministry declined to comment on the matter, while Gazprom did not respond to a request for comment.
In early February, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US had frozen $2 billion in payments from Russia to Akkuyu due in 2024 on suspicion that the money was being used to circumvent sanctions against the Russian Central Bank. Rosatom responded strongly, saying the money was being withheld “unfairly” and expressing hope that the issue would be resolved soon.
The Akkuyu project, Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, has been delayed several times, with officials saying the first unit could be put off until 2026, instead of the original 2025 schedule.
Previously, Rosatom also had to seek alternative sources of components from China after an order with Siemens Energy (Germany) was canceled due to US export controls.
Russia is currently Türkiye's largest gas supplier, accounting for 42% of the country's total imports by 2023. Late last year, Türkiye was granted a sanctions waiver by the US to continue importing gas from Russia after Gazprom's banking arm was blacklisted.
Once completed, the Akkuyu plant is expected to meet 10% of Turkey’s electricity needs. The government is planning to build two more large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors, aiming to reach a nuclear capacity of 20,000 MW by 2050. Ankara is currently negotiating with Russia, China and South Korea for these projects.
