Moscow and Ankara Discussing Gas Hub Establishment at Expert Level, Envoy Says
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and other officials attend an inauguration ceremony of a new gas pipeline “TurkStream” on January 8, 2020 in Istanbul.
ANKARA (Sputnik) – Russian and Turkish experts are already at work to explore ways to establish a gas hub meant to redirect gas from the Nord Stream pipelines to the TurkStream, Russian Ambassador to Ankara Alexei Yerkhov told Turkish newspaper Dunya in an interview published on Monday.
"As far as I am concerned, our countries are discussing this issue now at the expert level. The details are certainly important here. We will be informed as soon as the agreements are reached," Yerkhov said.
He also warned that the West is trying to force Turkey to join the sanctions against Russia using any means, including blackmail.
"As far as I understand, these demands have already been made by those who, without hesitation to use any means, including harsh blackmail, are trying to force Turkey to join the sanctions imposed on us. This is how I can interpret letters and phone calls received by Turkish businesses and associations from Western partners," Yerkhov said.
The ambassador emphasized that Russia does not approve of such methods, but the final decision is up to Turkey, its government, businessmen and people.TurkStream is an export gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea, with a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This is three times less than what four lines of Nord Stream 1 and 2, damaged in October, would have delivered.© Photo : Swedish Coast GuardGas leak location on Nord Stream 2 
Gas leak location on Nord Stream 2 Before Russia shut Nord Stream 1 down in August, citing maintenance, it carried 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe under the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream 2 has never been put into operation, as Germany halted the certification process last year.On October 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow could redirect gas transit from the Nord Stream pipelines, damaged by a terrorist attack, to Turkey.The next day, Putin discussed the idea with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their face-to-face meeting in Astana. On October 14, Erdogan said that the two leaders instructed relevant institutions of the two countries to quickly begin work on the idea of creating a hub in Turkey for gas supplies to Europe.
