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RUSSIA CLAIMS TURKISH BACKING FOR PIPELINE
By Olga Rotenberg (AFP)
Agence France Presse
Jan 13 2010
MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Russia had
won Turkey's backing for Moscow to build a key section of a new gas
pipeline seen as a rival of an EU-backed project in Turkish waters.
Putin's comments came after talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan that were the latest example of the expanding strategic
relationship between Moscow and Ankara.
"We have agreed that by November 10 the Turkish government will carry
out an audit and will give us the permission for the construction"
of the South Stream pipeline, Putin said.
"The Turkish prime minister has confirmed this intention today,"
he added.
Russia wants to build a section of the South Stream pipeline through
Turkey's portion of the Black Sea to create a new route for Russian
gas to Europe that will by-pass Ukraine.
But Turkey is also a key player in the rival EU-backed Nabucco pipeline
which aims to carry gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe and is
seen as a way of reducing European reliance on Russian gas.
Turkey in August agreed to allow Moscow to start surveys in its
territorial waters in the Black Sea for South Stream.
Putin said the ecological surveys had already been completed while
the seismological and geological surveys were 85-90 percent complete.
"The energy sphere has a very important significance. In this, we share
a very developed cooperation," Erdogan told Russian President Dimitry
Medvedev in earlier talks at his country residence outside Moscow.
"Not only in the sphere of natural gas but in crude products there
exist a whole series of opportunities," he added.
NATO member Turkey, which has long pursued EU membership, has sought
to downplay rivalry between the two competing pipelines.
It was unclear whether gas supplies were sufficient to fill two
pipelines and Moscow has been keen to complete South Stream ahead
of its rival, with plans to go online with the pipeline's section in
Turkish waters as early as 2013.
South Stream is being jointly developed by Russian gas giant Gazprom
and Italy's Eni.
Turkey in turn is seeking Russian support for a planned Turkish oil
pipeline to be built from the Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan on
the Mediterranean.
Russia will play an active role in the project and the two sides are
in talks over Moscow taking a stake, Russian deputy Prime Minister
Igor Sechin told reporters on the sidelines of the meetings.
Putin said he had floated the signing of a tripartite agreement
between Italy, Russia and Turkey on the pipeline and added that
Erdogan had agreed.
Turkey in November scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led
consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant. But
the two sides Wednesday signed a joint statement on a building a
nuclear facility.
The two countries have also joined efforts to broker peace between
ex-Soviet states Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are still technically
at war over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Shared concerns over stability in the Caucasus were tested as Russia
fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008, but Moscow has since
played a role in the recent rapprochement between Turkey and its
ally Armenia.
But Putin said the issue of Karabakh -- which is complicating the
ratification of a deal re-establishing diplomatic ties -- should not
be linked to Turkish-Armenian relations.
"I do not think it is right to put them in one package," he said.
Russia is Turkey's main gas supplier, accounting for about 60 percent
of the country's gas imports.
By Olga Rotenberg (AFP)
Agence France Presse
Jan 13 2010
MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Russia had
won Turkey's backing for Moscow to build a key section of a new gas
pipeline seen as a rival of an EU-backed project in Turkish waters.
Putin's comments came after talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyip Erdogan that were the latest example of the expanding strategic
relationship between Moscow and Ankara.
"We have agreed that by November 10 the Turkish government will carry
out an audit and will give us the permission for the construction"
of the South Stream pipeline, Putin said.
"The Turkish prime minister has confirmed this intention today,"
he added.
Russia wants to build a section of the South Stream pipeline through
Turkey's portion of the Black Sea to create a new route for Russian
gas to Europe that will by-pass Ukraine.
But Turkey is also a key player in the rival EU-backed Nabucco pipeline
which aims to carry gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe and is
seen as a way of reducing European reliance on Russian gas.
Turkey in August agreed to allow Moscow to start surveys in its
territorial waters in the Black Sea for South Stream.
Putin said the ecological surveys had already been completed while
the seismological and geological surveys were 85-90 percent complete.
"The energy sphere has a very important significance. In this, we share
a very developed cooperation," Erdogan told Russian President Dimitry
Medvedev in earlier talks at his country residence outside Moscow.
"Not only in the sphere of natural gas but in crude products there
exist a whole series of opportunities," he added.
NATO member Turkey, which has long pursued EU membership, has sought
to downplay rivalry between the two competing pipelines.
It was unclear whether gas supplies were sufficient to fill two
pipelines and Moscow has been keen to complete South Stream ahead
of its rival, with plans to go online with the pipeline's section in
Turkish waters as early as 2013.
South Stream is being jointly developed by Russian gas giant Gazprom
and Italy's Eni.
Turkey in turn is seeking Russian support for a planned Turkish oil
pipeline to be built from the Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan on
the Mediterranean.
Russia will play an active role in the project and the two sides are
in talks over Moscow taking a stake, Russian deputy Prime Minister
Igor Sechin told reporters on the sidelines of the meetings.
Putin said he had floated the signing of a tripartite agreement
between Italy, Russia and Turkey on the pipeline and added that
Erdogan had agreed.
Turkey in November scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led
consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant. But
the two sides Wednesday signed a joint statement on a building a
nuclear facility.
The two countries have also joined efforts to broker peace between
ex-Soviet states Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are still technically
at war over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Shared concerns over stability in the Caucasus were tested as Russia
fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008, but Moscow has since
played a role in the recent rapprochement between Turkey and its
ally Armenia.
But Putin said the issue of Karabakh -- which is complicating the
ratification of a deal re-establishing diplomatic ties -- should not
be linked to Turkish-Armenian relations.
"I do not think it is right to put them in one package," he said.
Russia is Turkey's main gas supplier, accounting for about 60 percent
of the country's gas imports.