Russia is forced to withdraw from the South Stream project due to the EU's unwillingness to support the pipeline, and gas flows will be redirected to other customers, Vladimir Putin said after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports GHN based on RT.
"We believe that the stance of the European Commission was counterproductive. In fact, the European Commission not only provided no help in implementation of [the South Stream pipeline], but, as we see, obstacles were created to its implementation. Well, if Europe doesn't want it implemented, it won't be implemented," the Russian president said.
According to Putin, the Russian gas "will be retargeted to other regions of the world, which will be achieved, among other things, through the promotion and accelerated implementation of projects involving liquefied natural gas."
"We'll be promoting other markets and Europe won't receive those volumes, at least not from Russia. We believe that it doesn't meet the economic interests of Europe and it harms our cooperation. But such is the choice of our European friends," he said.
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The South Stream project is at the stage when "the construction of the pipeline system in the Black Sea must begin," but Russia still hasn't received an approval for the project from Bulgaria, the Russian president said.
Investing hundreds of millions of dollars into the pipeline, which would have to stop when it reaches Bulgarian waters, is "just absurd, I hope everybody understands that," he said.