Speaking to reporters Thursday, Putin said that Europe does not have and will not find in the near future a gas partner whose supplies would be “cheaper and more reliable than [gas] deliveries from Russia.”
As relations between Russia and the West deteriorated, a number of European leaders have expressed a desire to cut their countries' dependence on Russia for gas. Russian energy giant Gazprom is a leading supplier of natural gas to the European Union, accounting for all gas deliveries to several European countries.
On December 1, Putin announced the termination of Russia’s South Stream pipeline project, aimed at creating a new route for the delivery of gas to southern European consumers that would bypass Ukraine. On the same day, Gazprom announced the construction of an alternative pipeline to Turkey. The new pipeline is expected to carry 63 billion cubic meters annually, with 14 billion cubic meters going to Turkish consumers and the rest being pumped to a hub on the Turkish-Greek border to be routed to southern Europe.
During a press conference Thursday, the Russian president reaffirmed the country's willingness to work in this direction in order to provide Europe with “stable, secure and absolutely clear deliveries of energy resources,” but stressed that the creation of the hub depends on the European Union’s will.
