The "Turkish Stream" will require that Moscow and Ankara meet each other

While present at the energy forum in Istanbul, the presidents of Russia and Turkey signed an agreement, which marks the beginning of the active phase of construction of the "Turkish Stream" pipeline.

Complicated history

The project involves the construction of two pipeline branches, one of which is designed for the needs of Turkey, the second for Europe.
The original plan for the construction of the gas pipeline which passes outside of the territory of Ukraine was announced back in 2014, however it changed several times due to strong opposition from Washington. The signing of the agreement and, accordingly, the construction was postponed several times: first, because of the freezing of Russian-Turkish relations, a new project "South Stream" through Bulgaria and Serbia, then the United States pushed on Bulgaria and blocked it.

However, the current warming of relations between Moscow and Ankara allowed yesterday's signing of the necessary documents to proceed to the next phase of construction.

The fate of "South Stream"

Also important is the fact that after the visit of the Turkish delegation to Moscow, with the first agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of Bulgaria to say that this had been achieved. It was, inter alia, about the resumption of the "South Stream".

However, despite the fact that Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak promised to consider this project as an addition to the now main project - "Turkish Stream", its renewal seems unlikely now because US lobbyists who are representatives of one of the powerful American companies firmly entrenched in the Balkan countries. This may also be a result of Ana Brnabich who holds the relevant ministerial post in Serbia,  known not only for her mania for LGBT, but the fact that she actively lobbied for the abolition of the "South Stream" in Serbia. On this, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, said that the fate of the project is not clear, because there are strong pro-American lobbies in Serbia.

Senior officials of Serbia and Bulgaria are now making loud statements about the responsibility of Washington for the failure to come through with exceptions to the agreements on the gas pipeline project.

Military cooperation

In addition to cooperation in the oil and gas industry, Russia and Turkey confirmed an agreement in the military sphere. It is expected that countries will strengthen cooperation in fact-finding, particularly regarding the situation in Syria. Since Turkey is formally a member of the US-led coalition, it can provide very valuable information. On the other hand, we can be sure that the information from the Russian Defense Ministry will not go further than what is provisioned, given the directly expressed anti-American and anti-NATO position of Ankara. It was about the joint humanitarian operations in Aleppo.

In addition, cooperation between Moscow and Ankara in Syria will help bring the Syrian crisis solution to a new level, as originally Turkey stood at an opposite position from Russia, and cooperation between the two countries with different views will push the international community to be more active in trying nonmilitary solutions advocated by Assad and Putin.

This will of course have a positive impact on the international image of Moscow, which now occupies a leading position in various rankings and which significantly enhances its impact in many areas.

Economic and other vectors

In other areas, agreements were also reached. We already know that restrictions on imports of certain types of Turkish products will be lifted, particularly agricultural. The Russian president stressed that this decision will be mutually beneficial: on the one hand, the commodities market will reduce prices in Russia, on the other - Turkey will return to the Russian market, the value of which is estimated at about $ 500 million a year.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that the economic agreement was concluded in a background of Western countries discussing new anti-Russian sanctions, which according to many officials of both the EU and Russia, are harmful only to those who enter into them (The EU), but not Moscow for it has support around the world.