South Stream agreement new year's gift for Turkey and Russia, says Russian PM Putin

MOSCOW (A.A) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the South Stream natural gas pipeline agreement signed today was a new year's gift for both Turkey and Russia. The deal for the South Stream -- a proposed pipeline which would bypass Ukraine to transport Russian natural gas to the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further to Greece, Italy and Austria -- was signed in Moscow by Turkey's state-run oil and gas pipelines company and the Russian Gazprom. The penning ceremony was supervised by Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz as well as by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Premier Igor Sechin. Speaking at the signature ceremony, Vladimir Putin said that "the dialogue began with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Today, we have seen that the Turks are a really reliable partner". Taner Yildiz, in his part, said that "with the agreement signed today, the strategic cooperation between Turkey and Russia has reached a higher level. We will continue to work to boost Turkish-Russian relations within the goals placed by Erdogan and Putin". There is no new agreement with Russia concerning the purchase of natural gas from the Westline, Yildiz said. We have signed a new addendum until private companies sign agreement for the Westline, Yildiz also said.