Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that the sanctions that European countries imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are to blame for the energy crisis in Europe – a line followed by the Kremlin itself.
Erdogan has maintained a good working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he tries to stay neutral in the conflict and supply Ukraine with weapons and combat drones.
“Europe’s attitude towards Putin, its sanctions, brought Putin – willingly or not – to the point of saying: ‘If you do this, I will do that,'” Erdogan said.
“He is using all his tools and weapons. Natural gas, unfortunately, is one of them.”
Erdogan’s comments echo those expressed by the Kremlin this week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday blamed the ban on gas shipments from Russia to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline on “sanctions that were imposed against his country.”
Russia accounted for nearly half of Turkey’s natural gas purchases last year.
Turkey pledged to slowly switch to paying for Russian imports in rubles at a summit between Erdogan and Putin earlier this month.
Analysts believe the deal will ensure Russia will continue to supply Turkey with gas through the TurkStream pipeline that runs under the Black Sea.
Erdogan said he did not expect Turkey to experience any energy shortages this year. “I think Europe will have serious problems this winter,” Erdogan said.
“We do not have such a situation.” Rising global energy prices, caused by Russian supply disruptions, have caused an economic crisis in Turkey, which has seen annual inflation rise to 80 percent and the Lira’s value plummet.