Turkey, Russia inaugurate TurkStream pipelines project

Turkey and Russia inaugurated the TurkStream pipelines project on Wednesday. Turkish President Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, along with Serbian President and Bulgarian Prime Minister. The TurkStream pipelines project will provide gas to Turkey and south and southeast Europe in two parallel pipelines, running 930 km through the Black Sea, from the Russian city of Anapa to the northwestern Turkish town of Kiyikoy in the Trace region.

One pipeline will supply gas to Turkey, and the other will reach the Turkish-European border to carry the gas first to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. TurkStream is estimated to deliver a total of 31.5 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas each year. Speaking at the ceremony, Putin said Turkey and Russia will implement many more mutually beneficial projects in energy and other areas. The pipelines project will also have a positive impact on south European countries' economy.