Medvedev: negotiations on extending TurkStream to EU underway with Greece, Bulgaria
ISTANBUL. May 23 (Interfax) - Russia is holding talks with a number of European countries on extending construction of the TurkStream gas pipeline on their territory, including with Greece and Bulgaria, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a press conference in Istanbul on Monday.
He said that Russia had already begun building the undersea section of the TurkStream pipeline.
"Altogether two lines of the gas pipeline are expected to be laid. One of them will be completely oriented toward the Turkish market. The second is aimed at supplying European countries. And right now we are holding talks with a number of European countries to determine where the best place is to enter Europe," he said.
"There are various proposals. Negotiations are underway with a whole range of European countries, including Greece and Bulgaria. But the corresponding developments could vary somewhat," Medvedev said.
"First of all, economic factors must be analyzed when making decisions on this matter, because the gas pipeline - we've said this repeatedly - is not a political project. This is a strictly economic project. And after this, accordingly, the possibilities of other European countries will be involved in this," Medvedev said.
"And we would like to stress once again that, ultimately, the realization of these plans on the territory of the European continent, countries of the European Union depends on decisions that will be made by European nations. We don't want to foist ourselves on anyone. We're proceeding from the assumption that this is an interesting, mutually beneficial project, and the necessary decisions need to be made on it. And, based on these factors, consultations are continuing in regard to which countries will participate in the implementation of the project within the context of the second line of the TurkStream gas pipeline," Medvedev said.
He said the start of construction of the offshore section of TurkStream is "genuinely a good development," because this is a "big infrastructure project that is both helping our country to develop and helping Turkey to develop, and all of Europe."
"We realize that TurkStream did not arise by accident, but was, on one hand, the realization of previously adopted ideas, previously prepared projects. But on the other hand, it is essentially the consequence of the European Union's refusal to implement the idea of South Stream," Medvedev said.
"We've already given our assessment that, in our view, it was a noneconomic decision that hurt, foremost, European nations themselves. But this project is closed, and now we're working on TurkStream, the implementation of which has begun, including the laying of the underwater section of the pipeline. This underwater section is slightly less than 1,000 km. This is a huge job, big investments. And after this there will be the onshore section, which will run through the territory of Turkey. It is about 200 km," Medvedev said.