Germany Tells Turkey: No Russian Gas in Future EU Energy Deals

Turkey's Gas Imports from Russia & Contract Status

• Import volume: Russia shipped approximately 21.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of pipeline gas to Turkey in 2025, making Russia Turkey's largest single supplier . Russia's share of Turkey's gas imports has fallen from over 60% decades ago to about 37% in 2025 .
• Contract status: Turkey's long-term contracts with Gazprom — covering up to 21.75 bcm/year via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines — were approaching expiry . In December 2025, Turkey agreed to a one-year extension of these deals while pursuing US LNG investments . As of June 2026, BOTAŞ and Gazprom are in active negotiations to renew agreements beyond 2026, with potential volumes around 22 bcm/year .

EU Timeline for Phasing Out Russian Gas

The EU's REPowerEU framework, finalized in the December 2025 political agreement, sets a stepwise, legally binding phase-out:

• New gas contracts (both LNG and pipeline) signed or amended after June 17, 2025 are already banned .
• Existing LNG contracts must be terminated by January 1, 2027 .
• Existing pipeline gas imports under long-term contracts must end by September 30, 2027 (an accelerated timeline from the original January 1, 2028 proposal) .
• EU annual Russian gas imports have already fallen from 152 bcm (45% share) in 2021 to roughly 35 bcm (12% share) in 2025 .

Turkey's Gas Transit Hub Ambitions

Turkey's ambition to become a regional gas hub sits in tension with the EU's phase-out. Ankara has long sought to position itself as a key transit route for Russian gas into southeastern Europe, and President Erdoğan and Putin have discussed a formal gas hub in Turkey . However, the EU's ban on Russian gas imports by end-2027 means there will soon be no legal market in the EU for Russian gas — which directly undercuts the business case for a Turkey-based hub that would transit Russian gas to Europe.

Turkey is simultaneously pursuing a diversification strategy — investing in FSRU terminals, expanding Silivri storage, and signing US LNG deals — to reposition as a multi-source hub that could aggregate gas from Azerbaijan, LNG suppliers, and domestic production rather than relying on Russian volumes . Minister Reiche's message reinforced that any hub ambitions linked to EU markets would need to be Russia-proofed — a condition that pushes Turkey to accelerate non-Russian supply partnerships if it wants to serve European customers .