Turkish Stream may run through Serbia, says Lavrov

One of possible routes of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline runs through the Serbian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with The Serbian Telegraph newspaper.

"We are satisfied with the option of the Turkish Stream construction that envisions two lines," he said. "Currently various options of the pipeline’s extension on the European territory are being developed, including through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary running to Austria’s Baumgarten gas hub," Lavrov added.

"Together we take into consideration the sad experience of the South Stream and would not like the situation to happen again. We will be ready to start the work only after firm positive guarantees are received from related structures of the European Union," the minister emphasized.

According to Lavrov, energy cooperation is one of the most important areas of cooperation between Moscow and Belgrade. "Leading Russian companies, including Gazprom, maintain a close contact with Serbian partners. There are ambitious joint plans. Particular steps are being agreed through the intergovernmental Russian-Serbian committee on trade, economic and scientific technical cooperation," he added.

The Turkish Stream project envisages the construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey’s European part and further on to the border with Greece. The seabed section is to be 910 kilometers long and the land section will run 180 km into Turkey. Each of two lines will have a capacity of 15.75 bln cubic meters of gas a year.