Russia aimed to establish a "dollar reserve" in Turkey to circumvent sanctions.

In 2022, Russia attempted to utilize the construction project of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey to establish an "offshore dollar reserve," which was intended to help Moscow circumvent international sanctions.

This information was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing informed sources. High-ranking Russian officials, including the head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, participated in the structuring of this scheme, alongside Turkish officials from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's inner circle, including one of his closest advisors, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, İbrahim Kalın.

According to the plan, Gazprombank, which at that time was not under U.S. sanctions, was to provide a loan of approximately $9 billion for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, a project managed by Rosatom. The funds were intended to be transferred through two American banks—JPMorgan and Citigroup—to an account at Turkey's largest state bank, Ziraat, after which the money was to be directed to the accounts of Russian companies at the same bank.

As WSJ notes, this maneuver would allow Russia to avoid transactions through the U.S. The Bank of Russia was supposed to secretly finance this process. Turkey's interest in the scheme stemmed from the fact that the country could obtain dollars to combat the rising inflation.

According to WSJ, in the summer of 2022, Russia managed to transfer over $5 billion to Turkey. However, this attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which blocked the next tranche of $2 billion through JPMorgan. These funds were frozen, and in 2024, the U.S. prosecutor's office began seeking ways to confiscate them by filing a civil lawsuit. However, President Joe Biden's administration halted this process, fearing it could worsen relations with Turkey.