Russian gas supplies to Turkey will be partly paid for in rubles, President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Friday. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

“We are ready to significantly increase supplies to Turkey in all directions that are of interest [to the country]. Our agreement on natural gas supplies of Russian origin to Turkey with the payment of 25% of these supplies in Russian rubles will start working in the nearest future,” the Russian president stated.

Earlier, reports emerged that Erdogan intends to ask Putin for a 25% discount on gas supplies. According to a report by Bloomberg, citing sources among senior Turkish officials, Erdogan also intends to make it possible to pay for part of the deliveries in Turkish liras.