Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his country could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipeline to the Black Sea to create a major European gas hub in Turkey, pro-government Sabah newspaper reported.
On September 27, Danish and Swedish officials revealed that two leaks had been identified on the Nord Stream 1 Russia-Europe gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. A similar development on its twin pipeline, Nord Stream 2 was reported on the same day.
During a Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow, Putin said that it was possible to repair the pipelines, but that Russia and Europe should decide their fate.
“We could move the lost volumes along the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey,” Sabah cited Putin as saying.
“That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course,” Putin added.
Alexei Miller, head of Russian state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom, said that the hub could be set up on the European Union border with Turkey.
The damaged Nord Stream pipelines would take at least a year and that Russia had still not been granted access to the area of damage, Miller revealed.
Western officials suspect that the incident was the result of an attack, particularly as it occurred during a bitter energy standoff between the European Union and Russia.
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed allegations that it destroyed the pipelines, blaming rather the U.S. for the gas leaks.
Ahval