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Federation Council may consider ratification of Turkish Stream agreement on February 1

The State Duma approved the document on ratification of the agreement between Russia and Turkey earlier on Friday.

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The Federation Council, upper chamber of the Russian parliament, may consider the law on ratification of the agreement between Russia and Turkey on construction of the Turkish Stream at a plenary session on February 1, Vladimir Jabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the chamber’s committee on international affairs, told TASS.

"I think that the agreement will be submitted to a plenary session on February 1 because we are obliged to consider the document in two weeks after it is approved by the State Duma," he said. The Senator also expressed confidence that his colleagues will approve the document.

The State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament) approved the document on ratification of the agreement between Russia and Turkey earlier on Friday.

The agreement was signed in Istanbul on October 10, 2016 and approved at the meeting of the Russian Government on December 15 of the last year. It was signed for 30 years and can be extended every five years after the expiration of that period.

The Turkish Stream pipeline was announced by the Russian authorities in December 2014 as a replacement for the South Stream pipeline.

However, talks on the project were soon suspended over a chill in Russia-Turkey bilateral relations.

On August 9, 2016, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg. After those talks it was decided to resume work on the Turkish Stream project, to set up a working group and to work a road map.

The project involves the construction of a gas pipeline across the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey, and farther to the border with Greece. The length of the marine section of the pipeline should be around 910 km, the land part across the Turkish territory - 180 km. The total project cost is estimated at 11.4 bln euros. It is assumed that the supply of gas through the first line will be entirely aimed to meet the growing demand of Turkish market.