Putin: Russia among largest contributors to Europe’s energy security

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- Russia has been among the biggest contributors to Europe’s energy security for 50 years and has a reputation of a reliable energy supplier, President Vladimir Putin said after his meeting with Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday.

“Austria is one of the largest buyers of Russia-produced natural gas and it transits the gas to other European states. This June it will be 50 years since the Soviet Union has started gas deliveries to Europe,” he said.

Kurz said that Austria’s federal government supports the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project, but all the details should be elaborated, including its influence on third states.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom will implement the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, and France’s Engie.

The chancellor also said that one of the issues he discussed with Putin was a broad gauge railway from Slovakia’s Cosice to Austria’s Vienna, which is to expand Russia’s transit shipment potential and will provide a more effective interconnection between the European and Asian markets.

Putin also said that co-chairmen of the Russian-Austrian intergovernmental commission will meet in at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum slated for May 24-26.

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