Europe May Face 'Disaster' Due to South Stream Cancellation: Czech Company

MOSCOW, December 2 (Sputnik) – The consequences of scrapping the South Stream gas project could be disastrous for some European states, the marketing director of Czech gas company Vemex told Sputnik Tuesday.

"Cancellation of the [South Stream] project spells a disaster for the Baltic States, namely Bulgaria and Serbia, as well as for Hungary and Austria," Hugo Kyselka said.

"I mean, first of all, the actions of the Bulgarian government and its European "associates", who have deliberately "sunk" the [South Stream] project. They have all made a huge blunder and caused real damage to the European energy security," he added.

According to Kyselka, it is "extremely risky to rely on raw material resources located thousands of kilometers away from the consumer without considering the political situation in those countries."

The Vemex marketing director also stressed that "Brussels has proved it is not interested in the needs of ordinary people, but only in the political aims" and "has started a very risky game with the voters' trust."

Kyselka noted that "Russia and Turkey have undoubtedly won in the game over the South Stream, while the European Union has made a wrong move and lost the game completely."

Earlier on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart that Russia would soon increase gas deliveries to Turkey by three billion cubic meters a year through the Blue Stream, an already operational pipeline running across the Black sea. The Russian leader also announced that Russia was no longer willing to continue implementing the South Stream project in light of the European Commission's "non-constructive" stance on the matter.

In 2012 Russian energy giant Gazprom announced the construction of a South Stream pipeline across the Black Sea to reduce the chances of Russian gas being delivered to central and southern Europe through Ukraine being interrupted. The pipeline was expected to be fully operational by 2018.

The European Commission has, however, taken a critical stance on the project, claiming that it is illegal to own a pipeline and produce the natural gas that flows through it at the same time.

Moscow has insisted that the construction of the pipeline does not contradict the regulations.