MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom said on Monday it is establishing a new company - Gazprom-Russkaya - to build a gas pipeline to Turkey.

Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov told journalists the new company is to be registered in St. Petersburg and take its name from the pipeline’s head compressor station Russkaya.

On December 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in current conditions Russia would not implement the South Stream project. Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said the project was no longer topical. “The project is closed,” he told journalists, commenting on the results of the top-level Russia-Turkey talks.

At the same time, Russia said it would develop gas cooperation with Turkey and offered a discount on the gas price. Apart from that, it was decided to build an additional gas pipeline to Turkey.

Russia is ready to build another pipeline transportation system to meet Turkey’s economic needs and create a gas hub, Putin told a news conference held after his talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. “In view of Turkey’s growing needs we are not only ready to expand the Blue Stream but can build another pipeline transportation system to help Turkey meet its growing /gas/ needs. If this idea is considered to be expedient, we can create an additional gas hub for consumers in southern Europe in the Turkish territory on the border with Greece,” Putin said, adding that it was “quite a realizable project.”

Miller explained that the would-be gas pipeline to Turkey would use the same entry station as under the South Stream project - the Russkaya compressor station.

During Putin’s visit to Ankara in December, Russia’s Gazprom and Turkey’s Botas signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a seabed section of the pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey with a capacity of 63 billion cubic metres of gas a year. Of this amount, 14 cubic metres of gas will be sold to Turkey, and the rest - about 50 billion cubic metres - will be supplied to a hub at the border between Turkey and Greece.