Russia Needs 'Ironclad Guarantees' to Resume Work on South Stream Project

Russia needs "ironclad guarantees" to resume work on the South Stream pipeline project after it was stalled due to opposition from the European Commission, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

ST PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – Putin noted that Russia saw that Bulgaria was ready to return to the implementing of the project, having put it on hold at the request of the European Commission.

"We suffered certain losses from the refusal of our European partners to return to this project. Mere intentions are not enough now, we need absolutely ironclad guarantees of a legal nature. They do not exist," Putin told a press conference.

The South Stream gas pipeline was intended to traverse the Black Sea to deliver Russian natural gas through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Italy and Austria to avoid exporting gas through the territory of Ukraine.

The European Commission was against the implementation of the South Stream as the project was allegedly in breach of the EU third energy package, under which one and the same company cannot own the gas and operate the pipeline. On December 1, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would halt the implementation of the South Stream.