BERLIN, June 20. /TASS/. The European Union will insist that the gas that Turkey will supply to the union's countries under new contracts should not be of Russian origin, Bloomberg quoted German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche as saying.
As Reiche noted, Turkey takes into account the great importance that the EU places "on weaning itself off Russian commodity supplies," but made it clear that replacing Russian supplies is impossible overnight either from an economic point of view or from the point of view of available resources.
On January 26, the EU Council banned Russian LNG supplies from 2027, and pipeline gas from September 30, 2027. A ban on LNG imports under short-term contracts began to take effect on April 25, 2026, and short-term contracts for the supply of pipeline gas must be completed by June 17, 2026.
Earlier, TASS, citing ENTSOG data, reported that supplies via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline to Europe in 2025 increased by 8.3% to a record 18.1 billion cubic meters (bcm). By the end of 2025, Russia increased pipeline gas supplies to Turkey to 21.2 bcm.
Russia supplies gas to Turkey via two pipelines running through the Black Sea: Blue Stream and Turkish Stream.