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Turkey to continue buying natural gas from Russia, Energy Minister confirms

"Russia has always been and remains a reliable supplier of natural gas to Turkey," Alparslan Bayraktar stressed

ISTANBUL, November 26. /TASS/. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has reaffirmed that Turkey will continue purchasing natural gas from Russia.

"Russia has always been and remains a reliable supplier of natural gas to Turkey. Gas deliveries from Russia are ongoing. There is no crisis, no issues, and there won’t be any," the minister said on Lider TV, commenting on a bill backed by US President Donald Trump imposing new sanctions on Russia and countries cooperating with it.

In October, Bayraktar made a similar statement, saying that his country would keep importing natural gas from Russia despite US calls to halt the republic's purchases of Russian energy resources.

The minister recalled that Turkey has been importing natural gas from Russia since the late 1980s.

"Russian gas is an important source of our imports. Thanks to it, Turkey covers around half of its natural gas needs. Relations with Russia in the energy sphere are developing positively," Bayraktar noted.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump voiced his support for a bill sponsored by members of the US Congress that would impose sanctions on countries cooperating with Russia. The bill, introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of senators, was authored chiefly by Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican of South Carolina, included on Russia's list of terrorists and extremists) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat of Connecticut). The initiative includes secondary sanctions against Russia's trading partners and proposes import duties of 500% on goods entering the US from countries that purchase oil, gas, uranium, and other products from Russia.

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