Putin: Europe Must Decide on Gas via New Route

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the cancellation of the South Stream project and plans for a new Russia-Turkish pipeline dubbed “Turk Stream’ at his annual press conference with global media.

Putin said that the proposed pipeline project with Turkey could deliver additional quantities of Russian gas to Europe via anew hub on the Turkish-Greek border however, this was dependent upon on negotiations with Europe.

"To a big extent, this depends on European countries. Whether they would like to have stable, absolutely guaranteed, risk free energy supply from Russia, which they need. It will be good if we get it working. Via Greece we can reach Macedonia, and on to Serbia, and then to Baumgarten in Austria. If they are not interested then we won’t do it," he said

Russia has emphasized that it has been a long-standing energy partner for Europe, even through the cold-war period and Putin reminded the audience that it would be difficult to find a partner whose gas supplies would be “cheaper and more reliable than deliveries from Russia.”

Readers may wish to visit The Moscow TImes (HERE) for a translated version of Putin's key comments on various topics.