Turkey may use ruble for Russia trade – media

Ankara keen to keep business going with Moscow despite sanctions

© Getty Images / A_Daria

Turkey could use ruble to carry out trade with Russia, Turkish TV channel A Haber reported on Monday, quoting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankara and Moscow can use the “dollar, euro, ruble, gold and yuan in trade,” Erdogan said in an hour-long telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to the TV channel.

Putin and Erdogan discussed the situation in Ukraine and the economic fallout of the sweeping sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU, the US and a number of other nations.READ MORE: Senior Russian, Ukrainian diplomats to meet in Turkey

Erdogan reiterated the importance of maintaining contact with Moscow. Putin, in turn, said he would instruct the 30 ships carrying sunflower oil and wheat that are currently in the Sea of Azov, to sail to Turkey, A Haber says.

Russia is one of Turkey’s main trading partners. In December 2021, Turkey exported over half a billion dollars’ worth of goods to Russia, according to data from Trading Economics. Russia exported $16.4 billion worth of goods to Turkey in 2019, reports the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), with the biggest export commodities being refined petroleum, crude oil and wheat. In recent times, trade between the two countries has been growing by about 10% a year.

Last August, the Turkish trade ministry said Ankara was determined to bring the overall volume of commercial exchange between the countries up to $100 billion a year.

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8 Mar, 2022 11:33HomeRussia & FSU

China urges Pentagon to open up about ‘biolabs’ in Ukraine

Beijing said that the US defense department controls 336 laboratories around the world

© Getty Images / Oksana Shufrych / EyeEm

China’s foreign ministry has called on the US to disclose information on the Pentagon’s alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine “as soon as possible”.

On Monday, the Russian military said Ukrainian authorities had been destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories. Moscow claimed that 30 US-financed Ukrainian biolabs have been actively cooperating with the American military.

Kiev has denied developing bioweapons. According to the website of the US embassy in Kiev, the US Department of Defense’s Biological Threat Reduction Program only “collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks” of infectious diseases. In 2020, the embassy called such theories about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine “disinformation.”

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, however, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian claimed that, according to his country’s information, the laboratories in Ukraine are just “a tip of an iceberg” and that the US Department of Defense “controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world.” This is done under the pretext of “cooperating to reduce biosecurity risks” and “strengthening global public health,” Zhao said.

It is the first time that Beijing has disclosed the alleged figure. Zhao said that according to data “released by the United States itself,” there are 26 US laboratories in Ukraine. In light of Russia’s military offensive in the country, he urged “all parties concerned” to ensure the safety of the labs.READ MORE: Russia makes new claims on US-financed biolabs in Ukraine

“In particular, the United States, as the party which knows these laboratories best, should publish the relevant details as soon as possible, including which viruses are stored and which research has been carried out,” he said.

He claimed the US “has been exclusively obstructing” the establishment of an independent verification mechanism. Such behavior, Zhao said, “further aggravates the concerns of the international community.”

According to a report in The Rio Times, the US embassy in Ukraine deleted all information about Pentagon-financed bio-labs in the country from its website on February 26. However, journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva claimed embassy staff forgot to remove a document showing that the Pentagon is funding two new biolabs in Kiev and Odessa.

“Ukraine has no control over the military biolabs. The Ukrainian government is not allowed to release sensitive information about the program,” the Brazilian news outlet claimed.

Over the past 20 years, the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine, jointly established with the United States, invested over $285 million in about 1,850 projects carried out by scientists who, according to Gaytandzhieva, previously worked on the development of weapons of mass destruction.

US authorities are yet to comment on the latest claims.