August 6 Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey at the invitation of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Energy issues will be top of the agenda, the Russian Vedomosti daily writes.

Russia will expand gas cooperation with Turkey, which implies the renewal of all the agreements on West route, enlargement of the “Blue stream” line and further cooperation within the framework of “South stream”.

After the negotiations with his Turkish counterpart Taner Yildiz, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko stated that Russia plans to sign an agreement on Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline construction.

Russia is interested in discussing the Nabucco project with Turkey as it is a rival to the South Stream project. The Nabucco project provides for gas supply from Caspian to Europe bypassing Russia. Turkey has already signed the Nabucco agreement but Russia will try to win Turkey over by offering cooperation under the South stream project.

However Turkey does not hasten to join the Russian gas coalition. The forthcoming negotiations will be decisive for the degree of Turkey’s participation in the project, Yildiz said.