Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan calls Russia's position on Trans-Caspian gas pipeline counterproductive

There is a normal, civilized process of cooperation between sovereign and equal subjects of the energy market. However, it produced an inadequate response from some Russian officials and media,” the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in an official statement released on October 18.

"It is not even about clearly weak arguments that come up to the front but a counterproductive way of putting the question that aims at distortion the nature and content of the energy policy of Turkmenistan,” the statement says.

Turkmenistan has repeatedly stated that it strongly opposes politicization of pipeline projects. The construction of the Trans-Caspian route is guided not by the political situation, not by the desire to infringe upon someone's interests but objective needs of economic development of the country, real mutual benefits for all sides of the project, reasonable estimates of their own resource base. Energy exports to Europe is one of the priorities of Turkmenistan's international strategy, and the Trans-Caspian project in this context is of key importance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized.

"Cooperation with our European partners is developing in a businesslike and constructive way, and it will continue. With regard to emerging issues, Turkmenistan is ready to discuss them in an open manner with participation of all interested parties on the basis of mutual respect, responsibility and unbiased evaluation of current trends in international development,” the statement said.