The launch of the first line of Turkish Stream is postponed due to the political crisis in Turkey, Gazprom’s Deputy Chairman Alexander Medveded said at a press-conference today, TASS reports.

He said that currently Turkey is ruled by provisional government, which causes postponement in the signing of an international agreement. Earlier, the deadline was reported to be set for December 2016, Medvedev said.  

Gazprom and the Turkish BOTAŞ company signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of the gas pipe from Russia to Turkey via the Black Sea last December.

The construction will be implemented by “Gazprom Russian” company.

The decision on implementing the “Turkish Stream” project was adopted during the visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ankara on December 1, 2014, simultaneously with the refusal to construct “South Stream” pipeline to the countries of Southern and Central Europe due to the non-constructive policy of EU.

The construction of the first pipeline is expected to be followed by three more lines.