Turkey asked to be removed from the Gazprombank sanctions list

Turkey has asked the United States to remove it from the Gazprombank sanctions list. This was reported by the newspaper Hürriyet on December 4.

Gazprombank on November 21 came under the updated list of U.S. sanctions. Then the founder of the investment company SharesPro Denis Astafiev noted that the main blow of the sanctions against Gazprombank will have to Europe. He called the imposition of sanctions a political move, which will damage the European economy to a greater extent than the Russian economy.

As the publication recalled, the current US administration imposed sanctions against Gazprombank to prevent Russia from using the international financial system.

According to Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, this decision of Washington will affect Ankara, so the country wants to withdraw from this sanctions list. As the publication notes, all the necessary applications have been submitted. The American side, in turn, told the media that it is aware of the statements of the Turkish side and is studying the situation.

At the same time in November, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the Western sanctions will not lead to restrictions on Russia's foreign trade. According to him, all restrictions by Western countries first of all hit them. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia is working on retaliatory measures to the U.S. sanctions against Gazprombank.

Earlier, on December 4, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Hungary had asked the United States to make an exception to the sanctions against Gazprombank for gas payments from Russia. According to him, he discussed the topic with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the margins of a meeting of NATO diplomatic chiefs in Brussels. The diplomat noted that such an exception cannot be called unusual because several Russian banks have it to pay for uranium supplies to the US.

Western countries have increased sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which was announced on February 24, 2022.