President Putin Plans to Visit Turkey in Early January of 2020 - Kremlin Spokesman

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to pay a visit to Turkey in the first days of January 2020, and preparations for the visit are already underway, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"Putin and [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan have really agreed, in one of the recent phone calls, that in early January [...] the TurkStream land sector will be ready in Turkey, and they have really discussed the possibility for President Putin to visit Turkey. Such a visit is also being prepared", Peskov told reporters, when asked to comment on Turkey's reports that Putin will visit the country in January to take part in the special ceremony for launching the TurkStream pipeline.

The TurkStream is envisaged as a 570-mile twin pipeline to transfer gas from Russia to Turkey and further up to southern and southeastern Europe.

The pipeline will have a maximum capacity of 31.5 billion cubic metres (1.1 trillion cubic feet) per year.

The first leg will deliver Russian gas under the Black Sea to Turkey for local consumption by 1 January 2020. The second leg is expected to carry gas to Southern and Central Europe, but its route has not been determined yet.