South Stream first, Putin says

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Construction for the South Stream gas line through the Balkans could conclude before the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany, the Russian prime minister said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the South Stream natural gas pipeline "has every chance" of being completed before Nord Stream, RIA Novosti reports.

A January row between Kiev and Moscow over gas debts and arrears exposed vulnerabilities in the regional energy sector. Roughly 80 percent of all Russian gas exports to Europe travel through Ukraine, and the dispute left European customers in the cold for weeks.

Europe aims to ease its dependency on Russian gas through the Nabucco gas pipeline from Central Asia. Russia, for its part, intends to avoid politically sensitive transits routes through Ukraine with its Nord Stream and South Stream options.

Nord Stream would travel along a dual route through the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea to Germany. Several littoral states in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea had expressed concern over the environmental impact of pipeline construction, which is complicated by World War II munitions strewn along the sea floor.

South Stream would bring natural gas from Central Asia and Russia to the Balkans and other European customers along a route that avoids Ukraine. Turkey recently approved preliminary steps for South Stream construction in the Black Sea, and Serbia signed agreements to host the pipeline.