Turkey says starts working to create gas hub

ANKARA, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- Turkey and Russia have reached principal agreement on establishment of a gas hub in Turkey, and Ankara has started to fulfill its part of work, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said on Tuesday.

"We will talk about our part of the work first. We started it. Our friends work at Botas, Epias. We have always had a goal to become a gas center and a center of trade. In principle, we have reached an agreement … We shall finish works on our side first," Donmez said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia could redistribute the gas flow from Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 to Turkey and that he was in negotiations on the issue with his Turkish counterpart.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that capacity of the TurkStream pipeline linking Russia with Turkey could increase and that gas cooperation between the countries is on the agenda of negotiations at the highest level.

Commenting on a statement by Czech Republic's Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela that the country would not buy Russian gas from the hub, Peskov said that other European states could have a different position on the issue.

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