Russia will make a 6 percent discount on natural gas sales to Turkey as of the first of January 2015, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, Anadolu agency reported.
Putin made the remarks at the press conference with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkish capital Ankara following the signing ceremonies between two countries' ministers on several economic agreements.
As Putin continues his Turkey visit, Russian ruble slid nearly 9 percent against the dollar, its biggest one-day loss in well over a decade.
During the press conference, Putin said that Russia will meet the growing energy demand of Turkey by increasing the existing capacity of Blue Stream Natural Gas Pipeline by 3 bcm.
Turkish officials have been discussing the expansion of the capacity of Blue Stream Natural Gas Pipeline to meet the growing energy demand of Turkey. Turkish government sources confirmed to Anadolu Agency late on Wednesday that the agreement to increase capacity from 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 19 bcm had been reached during Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz's visit to Moscow last week.
Turkey imported some 45 billion cubic meters of gas in 2013, including 26.6 billion cubic meters from Russia, being the second biggest natural gas importer from Russia after Germany.
Russia will halt the construction of South Stream Natural Gas Pipeline because of not reaching a deal with Bulgaria, Putin said. "We will not start the construction of the project on Black Sea. It is not logical to construct all the pipeline and stop when reaching the border of Bulgaria," Putin added.
Putin accused the European Union over the cancellation of the project. "If the EU does not want this project, we will cancel it. That means Europe will not benefit from Russian gas. We will distribute our natural gas to other world markets by pipelines and in the form of liquefied natural gas," he said.
If Bulgaria is an independent country, it should ask for its $400 million loss over the cancellation of the project from the EU, Putin added.
Putin signaled the building of a new natural gas hub on Turkey. "We signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey to build a natural gas hub on the Turkish-Greek border, to supply Eastern European Countries," he said.
Putin also said that there are no financial problems about the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu at the southern coast. He said that the security technology of the project is far above the Fukushima. "There should not be any doubt over security concerns," he said.
Rosatom, the state-run atomic energy corporation of Russia, signed an agreement with Turkey in 2011 to build and operate a four-reactor nuclear power plant in the Mersin province on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.