Vucinac in Istanbul: Putin, Erdogan include Serbia in major economic project

The pipeline is a sign of “co-operation and co-operation for the benefit of our people and people of Europe and around the world”, Putin said at the inauguration ceremony.

Turkish President Reccep Tayip Erdogan has long sought to turn his country into an energy centre.

Turkish Stream is a project that has been developed in the past five years and has a cost of nearly $8 billion.

The pipeline will carry Russian gas to Turkey, with half the volume further flowing into the Balkans and Central Europe, including Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

The project is part of Russia's long-term goal to reduce or complete gas transit via Ukraine.

Putin travelled to Turkey from Syria when he held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

At the ceremony in Istanbul, there was Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq as well.

Vuciq announced at the Instagram yesterday that he has challenged the day-long visit to Turkey. Vuciq has praised the reports Russia-Serbia as friendly reports going in the best direction.

We respect all countries and see what we can do for our citizens. My claims are much bigger than these”, Vuciq said, translate Periscopi.

Meanwhile, Ivica Dacic has said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq's participation in the ceremony, with leaders like Erdogan's Putin, shows that these countries have great respect for Serbia.

The Russian-Turkish pipeline is the successor of the South Stream pipeline project, whose construction was abandoned by Russia in December 2014 because it could not respect European Union rules, under which a company cannot own both gas and pipeline.

The new gas pipeline has raised concerns in the Energy Community after Serbia's Energy Agency issued a final decision on March 5th 2019, excluding the new pipeline from EU rules and failing to meet all conditions set by the Energy Community as a European regulatory body.