Turkiye will host talks with a Russian delegation in Ankara on December 9 to seek a discount of more than 25% for the price of its gas imports from Russia, senior Turkish officials said, reported from Bloomberg.

A deal with Russia could ease the pressure on the lira, one of the world’s worst-performing currencies over the last year, and help President Recep Tayyip Erdogan avoid hiking energy prices ahead of elections next year to boost his popularity at a time when Europe is facing an energy crunch.

Turkiye wants the discount to apply to 2023 payments and some previous payments made in 2022 retrospectively, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity about the closed-door preparations. 

If Turkiye can’t secure a discount at a desirable level, then it will seek deferrals for payments preferably until 2024, the officials said without elaborating. The Turkish government and the state gas importer Botas did not immediately comment. 

Russia supplied just under half of Turkiye’s 59 billion cubic meters in gas imports last year. Erdogan has said Turkiye’s total energy bill for 2022 could reach $100 billion, double the amount for last year.

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