ANKARA, May 10. /TASS/. Turkey has agreed with Russia to defer payments on natural gas bills worth $600 million until 2024, Reuters reported on Wednesday citing two sources.

The agency notes that this was the first such postponement under the agreement announced last week. According to the agreement, "up to $4 billion in Turkish energy payments to Russia may be postponed until next year."

"Officially a payment worth $600 million has been postponed to next year. The increase in energy prices had a huge impact on this," one of the sources told Reuters.

On May 3, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez announced that Ankara had reached an agreement with Gazprom to defer part of payments for natural gas supplier to Turkey. However, then he refused to name the amount of the postponement agreed upon.

Russia is a key supplier of natural gas to Turkey, accounting for more than 40% of all imported gas annually.