The Moscow-planned South Stream pipeline, which will run Russian gas under the Black Sea to the south-eastern Europe, avoiding Ukraine, was put forward in order to stop the construction of the EU-backed Nabucco project, Sergiy Korsunskyi, Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, told New Europe on January 16, telephonically from Ankara.

“South Stream was created by Russians to kill Nabucco,” Korsunskyi said. “If Russians put their additional gas into South Stream it will never be Nabucco. It is a political game.” South Stream competes with Nabucco – a pipeline that is intended to bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe via Turkey, bypassing Russia. South Stream would be dangerous environmentally because of its length and big depth given the geophysical structure of the Black Sea, the ambassador claimed, adding that it would carry a big price tag. He noted that Russia’s Blue Stream pipeline to Turkey “is dangerous but it is relatively short.” To transit Russian gas to Bulgaria or Romania cannot be done without an intermediary in the middle, Korsunskyi said, adding that it should either be an artificial island or to build the pipeline on the land in the Crimea on Ukrainian territory. “It is a very complicated project and from my point of view I’m bold enough to say it is never going to happen,” the ambassador opined.

A day earlier, the chief executives of Russian gas giant Gazpromand Italy’s ENI agreed to speed up the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline amid the current gas transit crisis. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni, whose country is the second-largest importer of Russian gas in Europe, held a working meeting at Gazprom’s headquarters on January 15. Miller informed Scaroni of the “critical situation in relations with Ukraine and on the moves being made by Gazprom to end the crisis.” “Gazprom and ENI agreed to speed up the work of the joint working group with preparations for the South Stream project,” Gazprom said in a statement.

Korsunskyi, who is also an energy expert, said ENI has the experience to build South Stream, “but the price tag on this pipeline will be enormous and the environmental impact will be enormous as well.”

The Ukrainian ambassador accused Russia of trying to secure all gas supplies from Azerbaijan so that no gas would flow if Nabucco is completed. “Nabucco is difficult, but it is possible. Look what the Russians are doing. It is not just South Stream; the Gazprom delegation spent months last year in Azerbaijan trying to persuade (Azerbaijan President Ilham) Aliyev to sell their gas to Gazprom. Tell me please why they needed gas from Azerbaijan?” Korsunskyi asked. Answering his own question, he said: “To put zero in Nabucco. If Azerbaijan is out of the game forget about Nabucco forever.”

He reminded that Azerbaijan is supplying Georgia and Turkey with some gas and a portion of that gas travels to Greece. Korsunskyi said that Turkey, despite the difficult situation it is in because of the gas crisis, will continue to supply Greece with gas as Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler stated several times.