It’s no secret that Germany is deciding the EU’s access to Russian gas through their handling of the Nord Stream pipelines. It is also no secret that Turkey has closer ties to Russia than any other NATO member (with the possible exception of Hungary, which is also a component of the EU). Turkey is trying to present itself as an “impartial” arbiter in the Russo-Ukraine conflict, but clearly it has a number of geopolitical issues (in Syria, for example) which links it to Russia and very little which links it to Ukraine.
Russia is now proposing that the gas which is not being shipped to Germany should be shipped through a Turkish pipeline for the “benefit” of those EU members and other countries deprived of fuel by the war and sold at a low price set by Russia. This is clearly an attempt to drive a political wedge separating those countries who agree with northern Europe/US/UK interests and their own.
Russia has been using its natural gas resources to exert economic pressure on European countries, worsening the energy crisis.
Moscow has been toying with supply via key pipelines, and last month there were unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark.
For its part, Turkey played an important role in brokering a deal that saw Russia allow grain exports from key Ukrainian ports to restart in August.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a “gas hub” plan to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday, saying if there was interest from Turkey, they would consider its feasibility.
“If there is interest from Turkey and our potential buyers from other countries, we could consider the possibility of building another gas pipeline system and creating a gas hub in Turkey to sell to other countries — to third countries, primarily, of course; the European ones, if they are interested,” Putin said on the side lines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia summit in Astana in Kazakhstan.
If the hub was to go ahead, it would be a platform not only to supply but also to determine prices, Putin added. “These prices are outrageous today. We could calmly regulate [them] at a normal market level without any political overtones,” he said.
“We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey,” Putin said. “That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course.”
Jeff
