(ANSA) - ANKARA - Russia for the time being ''is forced to withdraw from the South Stream project, due to the EU's lack of willingness to support the pipeline; the gas will therefore be redirected to other consumers'', Putin said in Ankara, quoted by Russia Today.

The Russian President stated that Moscow ''has not yet received Bulgaria's permission'' to let the pipeline pass through its territory. South Stream is a 16 billion euro project and Italy is among the leading proponents, along with Eni, Gazprom's major partner, France's EDF and Germany's Wintershall.

Putin, in order to show his will to strengthen Russian involvement in other markets, different from Europe, announced an agreement with Erdogan to increase supplies to Turkey up to 3 billion cubic metres, through the Blue Stream pipeline, and he added that he's planning to develop a new pipeline along the Greek-Turkish border, designed only for ''consumers in southern Europe''. (ANSA).