Turkey Tries to Gain Control Over Gas Route: Does Moscow Have Concerns?

The energy and transit cooperation between Turkmenistan and Turkey is open and mutually beneficial. This was stated by Alexander Sternik, director of the third division for CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, in an interview with Interfax. He was responding to a question about whether Moscow has concerns regarding reports that Turkey is trying to involve Turkmenistan in a union of Turkic states to gain control over the gas route from Turkmenistan to Europe.

“Recently, the politicization of energy issues has become apparent, including provoked by the U.S. and its allies. Empty discussions are being held about threats to the EU's energy security posed by Russia, and various projects aimed at reducing the share of Russian energy resources in European markets are being presented. We will live and see if the authors of these ideas can 'prove with numbers' the superiority of their alternatives to our products,” Sternik noted.