Putin: Russia may allow Greece join gas pipeline projects

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (PRIME) -- Moscow is ready to consider inclusion of Greek companies into the projects of Russian natural gas transportation to the European countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday in a news conference following a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“We are ready to consider the possibility of including Greek companies into large infrastructural projects for delivery of Russian gas to Europe via the southern route,” he said.

The possibility for Greece to join the TurkStream pipeline project is very realistic. “We are discussing it with our Turkish and Greek partners, it is absolutely possible,” he said.

“They have almost finished construction of the pipeline from Greece to Italy. They have built the pipe, but there is no gas. So, we will think together about how we can fill this route with real products…It has to be economically feasible for economic entities, including Russian firms. But it is possible.”

Tsipras said that prolongation of the TurkStream through Greece to Italy and Europe would boost the role that the country plays as the region’s energy distribution center. The country may fill the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) with Russian gas, he said.

“The TAP pipeline is 80% ready. I think that we have all technical prerequisites for this pipeline to include Russian gas, I believe that it would be beneficial for the European economy and for the whole region,” he said.

Europe has double standards in regards to some Russian projects, like the TurkStream pipeline, Tsipras said, expressing hope that the European Commission would understand in the future that such approaches are unacceptable.

The TurkStream pipeline was designed to consist of two branches with a length of over 900 kilometers and a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. One of them, finished in May 2018, is to carry Russian gas to Turkey, while the other is to transit gas to the European countries through Turkey and is to be finished in 2019.

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