“We have commissioned Mr. Putin, our Ministry of Energy and the responsible institution in Russia to develop a joint work”the Turkish President said in statements to journalists during the flight back from Astana, where he held a bilateral meeting with the Kremlin’s number one.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that “the Turkish side” reacted “with considerable interest in Putin’s initiative.”
“And the leaders have given instructions to investigate this matter quickly”he added.
At stake is the creation of a hub on Turkish soil to distribute Russian gas to Europe.. Which, from the Kremlin’s point of view, could also represent a mechanism for regulating energy prices. It is, in Putin’s words, “a platform not only for gas supply, but also for pricing, because that is a very important issue”.
“Today these prices are exorbitant and we could easily regulate them to normal market levels,” the Russian president told the Turkish interlocutor.
Also according to Putin, when it comes to hydrocarbons originating from Russia, Turkey is “currently the most reliable route to supply Europe”, via TurkStream it is this pipeline that transports Russian gas to Turkey and to various countries in the world south and southeast Europe: The TurkStream gas pipeline in the Black Sea can transport up to 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year. It supplies Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Hungary and North Macedonia.
This in turn was emphasized by the Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov from Moscow In addition to Turkey, Russia also wants to negotiate with socalled “friendly” European countries.
with agencies