The launch of the Turkish Stream can be expected no earlier than 2017, according to the Turkish Ambassador to Russia.
"The pipeline is expected to run only after 2017," ambassador Umit Yardim said in an interview with Interfax.
"If the parties succeed in implementing the project, this would be a great victory for both Turkey and Russia.” Moscow and Ankara continue discussing the matter, he said, adding that Turkey and Russia have not yet reached the stage of the project’s beginning.
Turkish Stream has become an alternative to the South Stream project. In early December 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of the South Stream because of the EU opposition, and said that Russia instead plans to build a gas pipeline via the Black Sea to Turkey.
South Stream was planned to transport natural gas from the Russian Federation through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia further to Austria.
