Russia’s Decision to Cancel South Stream Project Bad News for Serbia: PM

MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) — Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Russia’s decision to curtail the South Stream gas pipeline project was bad news for his country, as Serbia has been investing in the project for almost seven years.

“Serbia has not done anything to contribute to this decision. For almost seven years, Serbia has invested a lot of work into this project. I think the project was good for Serbia, we did not back down from it even under severe pressure, but now we have to pay for the conflict between great [powers]”, Vucic told to Belgrade News Agency Tanjug.

The Prime Minister said he planned to attend the next UN Security Council meeting in New York, but would contact Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his return to Serbia.

On Monday, Vladimir Putin said Russia would not be able to continue with the construction of the South Stream project under current conditions, in particular the EU’s uncooperative stance on the issue. Putin said yesterday that Bulgaria had not provided its permission to let the project go through its economic zone. The Head of Gazprom Alexei Miller later confirmed that the South Stream project had been officially closed.

Previously, it had been planned to build the main section of the pipeline in Serbia, at 422 kilometers in length.

In 2012, Gazprom announced the construction of the South Stream project across the Black Sea to reduce the possibility of unreliable gas transfer to central and southern Europe through Ukraine.