The widely touted US sanctions on Gaszprombank issued in November have been watered down as the White House yielded to pressure from Turkish and Hungarian leaders and issued waivers. The Kremlin's chief payments conduit for gas sales to the West can continue to trade with Budapest and Ankara, in a material concession by Washington.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told Bloomberg his country had received an exception from Washington’s sanctions on Gazprombank following talks with U.S. officials. Earlier, the minister said Turkey risked falling under sanctions if it did not receive a waiver.
Hungary has received an exempton from the sanctions as well Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced December 19th. Hungary receives the majority of its natural gas imports from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline, which transports gas through Turkey and Serbia.
Slovakia is rpeorted to have requested similar waivers but a determination has not been made, according to Reuters. Slovakia's supply challenge is complicated by its reliance on Ukrainian pipelines for delivery.
Kiev has not indicated it will renew the transshipment agreements with Gazprom which expires at year end. On Sunday Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico flew to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to discuss the situation
Austria, which shares with Slovakia and Hungary a reliance on Ukraine-transited gas supplies has not weighed in on the controversy, yet.
In response to the new sanctions, the Kremlin announced last week that foreigners are temporarily allowed to pay for Russian gas via other banks, not just Gazprombank.
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