Russian Putin seeks Turkey’s support for South Stream gas pipeline during visit to Ankara

August 14th, 2009 Merkel-Medvedev talks to focus on energy, economyMOSCOW — German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a visit expected to include Kremlin pressure for Germany to attract other countries to a Russian gas pipeline project. Germany is Russia's key partner in the Nord Stream project, a pipeline to deliver Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Europe.

August 6th, 2009 Turkey, Russia sign gas pipeline dealANKARA, Turkey — Russia on Thursday secured Turkish support for a pipeline project that challenges European efforts to reduce energy dependence on Moscow, but predicted that Europe would ultimately benefit from the deal. Russia's South Stream pipeline rivals a pipeline project known as Nabucco that has the backing of the European Union and the United States and would provide a supply of gas not subject to Russian control.

August 2nd, 2009 CHKALOV ISLAND - Keeping up his action man image, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has recently and set up a satellite transmitter on a white whale diving into sea in Russia's Far East region and told the animal not to be so angry. During his visit to Chkalov Island in Russia's Far East Khabarovsk region Friday, Putin met the scientists studying white whales' behaviour, migration patterns and habitats.

July 13th, 2009 Turkey, EU countries sign gas pipeline dealANKARA, Turkey — European countries on Monday sealed an important agreement aimed at diversifying the continent's energy sources — but their pipeline project to bring natural gas from Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe can't entirely break Russia's dominance. The Nabucco pipeline is still seeking gas supplies — in particular, from Azerbaijan — despite promising words by Iraq, Turkmenistan, Egypt and Syria.

July 13th, 2009 Medvedev cheered in breakaway Georgian regionTBILISI, Georgia — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was greeted by raucous crowds cheering and chanting "Thank you!" when he visited South Ossetia in a trip showing off Russia's ties to the breakaway Georgian region. Georgian officials called Monday's visit — the first by Medvedev since last year's war between Russia and Georgia — a provocation.

July 7th, 2009 Putin says Obama meeting went wellMOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says his first meeting with President Barack Obama went "very well." The former Russian president called the two-hour meeting "substantive, informative and collaborative." Putin told reporters he and Obama "covered the issues from previous years" and found "many positives" and "many points in common." Obama also had good things to say about their meeting Tuesday, and said he found Putin's views similar to those of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev. Before heading to Russia, Obama had described Putin as still having a confrontational Cold War mentality, while the younger Medvedev seemed to understand that it was time for a new approach to U.S.-Russia relations.

July 2nd, 2009 Obama says Putin lives partly in pastWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is describing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as someone who still has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." He says one reason he's meeting with Putin — as well as with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (dih-MEE'-tree med-VYEH'-dyev) — during his upcoming visit to Moscow is that he wants Putin to know that "the old Cold War approaches" to relations with the United States are "outdated." Obama says Putin "still has sway" in Russia. He also says the U.S.

June 8th, 2009 Finland wants more details of Baltic gas pipelineHELSINKI — Finland says it needs more details of the environmental effects of a Baltic Sea gas pipeline planned between Russia and Germany before it can approve its construction. The Environment Ministry says it wants information about how the pipeline would affect fishing, toxic chemicals and unexploded ammunition on the seabed and nature reserves in Finnish territory.

April 29th, 2009 Ukraine's Tymoshenko seeks new gas deal in MoscowMOSCOW — Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko promised Russia a role Wednesday in the upgrading of its aged pipeline system after Moscow agreed to let its neighbor off from penalties for taking less gas than agreed. Tymoshenko met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in their first face-to-face session since a January dispute over gas payments caused huge disruptions to gas supplies across Europe.

April 28th, 2009 Russia, Bulgaria shelve differences on pipelineMOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia and Bulgaria have set aside their differences over the proposed South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, paving the way for an agreement within the next couple of weeks. "We have no disagreements left," Putin said at a televised news conference with his Bulgarian counterpart.

April 24th, 2009 Summit debates secure gas deliveries for EuropeSOFIA, Bulgaria — Backers of a pipeline meant to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas clashed Friday at a high-level energy meeting with supporters of a rival project which would strengthen Moscow's near-monopoly on supplying the continent. Backers of the South Stream pipeline, which will transport Russian natural gas under the Black Sea through Bulgaria to other European countries, sought the EU's endorsement.

April 6th, 2009 MOSCOW - Attempts to exclude Russia from global energy decision making would be counterproductive, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday in an address to the lower house of parliament. The European Union (EU) signed an agreement with Ukraine in late March on modernizing the country's Soviet-era pipelines, triggering an angry reaction from Russia, which exports most of its Europe-bound gas via Ukraine.

January 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Gas supplies from Russia to Europe through Ukraine may resume soon, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Sunday after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko. Russian news agencies said that a deal had been reached between the two sides.

January 15th, 2009 MOSCOW - Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, the heads of Gazprom and Italy's Eni have agreed to speed up the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, the Russian energy giant has said. The South Stream project is a new pipeline under the Black Sea which will serve as another route to transit Russian gas to Europe.

January 5th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia has said it will further cut gas to Ukraine by 65 million cubic metres per day, the amount Moscow says Kiev is stealing from European clients further downstream. Gazprom cheif executive Alexei Miller Monday proposed the measure while briefing Prime Minsiter Vladimir Putin on the standoff since the company shut off supplies to Ukraine on Jan 1 over non-payments and a pricing dispute.