Mikheev: negotiations on Turkish Stream are game in search of benefits

Recently, media reported that talks between Gazprom and the Turkish company Botas on technical issues related to the Turkish Stream have been delayed. Both sides are suffering serious losses. According to some estimates, Gazprom's losses amount to several hundred million euros, on the other hand, Turkey cannot apply the discount of $100, but it rather buys Russian Gas at $100 more than the average European price.

The deputy head of the Editorial Council of Vestnik Kavkaza, the Director General of the Institute for Caspian Cooperation, Sergey Mikheyev, told the hosts of the radio-show 'Nachalo' on Vesti-FM, Giorgi Saralidze and Alexandra Pisareva, that the reason for the protracted negotiations is a so-called "staring contest", that is, the sides are trying to get big party preferences, but at the same time there is a political component.

"The Americans put pressure on Turkey and Europe, they want to block the South Stream, they managed to do it in Bulgaria, now they are working with Turkey and other European countries. The reason is simple: the US would like to see Russia continuing to drive the gas through Ukraine, and our relations are deteriorating and the Russian gas transit would disappear," Mikheyev said.

"On the other hand, there is the absolutely obvious fact that the Turks understand that Russia is in a difficult situation, and try to extract the maximum benefit from it," the analyst noted. "It's the same situation as with the Chinese, the same talks. They [Turkish officials - VK] understand that Russia is in a rather complicated situation due to the Ukrainian crisis, because of the sales in Europe," he said. "Therefore, technical and political factors are mixed in this case," Sergey Mikheev said.