Putin, Tsipras Discussed Turkish Stream Routes During Friday Meeting

Possible routes for transporting Russian gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline were among the topics discussed by Vladimir Putin and Alexis Tsipras.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) —Possible routes for transporting Russian gas through the Turkish Stream pipeline were among the topics discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during their meeting on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“Projects in the energy field were discussed during the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexis Tsipras, in particular, routes for transporting Russian gas through the Turkish Stream,” Peskov told reporters.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Earlier on Friday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Greek counterpart Panagiotis Lafazanis signed an agreement on extending the Turkish Stream gas pipeline through Greece.

According to Novak, the memorandum envisages Russia and Greece creating a joint venture on the 50-50 basis to implement the construction of the pipeline on the Greek territory. The construction of the extension is expected to be over in late 2019.

The Turkish Stream is a proposed pipeline with an annual capacity of some 63 billion cubic meters. The pipeline will run from Russia to Turkey across the Black Sea, ending in a gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border, from where it is planned to continue to southern Europe. Turkish Stream gas is expected to begin flowing in December 2016.