Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed an agreement with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whereby Turkey will become a hub for the redistribution of Russian gas to third countries, as the two leaders sounded out at a recent meeting. "We will create a node here with gas coming from Russia," Erdogan has announced in a speech to members of his party in Ankara. He has also quoted Putin as saying that, once this initiative moves forward, "Europe can get its natural gas from Turkey," according to the Anatolia agency. Erdogan has stated that Turkey does not have the "problem" that other economies suffer from, in a context of energy emergency with supply problems and high prices, derived mainly from the military offensive launched by Russia on Ukraine.
Putin and Erdogan met last week in Kazakhstan, in the margins of a regional forum, and already after this meeting both parties had shown their willingness to reach an agreement. The Turkish president suggested the Eastern Thrace region on the Black Sea as the most favorable area for the new node. This province is already served by the Turkstream, which according to Putin is currently the most reliable gas pipeline for exports, despite the fact that Moscow recently denounced an alleged sabotage attempt that resulted in several arrests.