Russian President Vladimir Putin meet Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov for talks in the Kremlin.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russia, Turkmenistan Near Gas Deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov for talks in the Kremlin on Tuesday, getting closer to a deal with Moscow's key ally in gas supplies.
Turkmenistan’s new president promised President Putin on Tuesday that he would work with Russia “in all areas of cooperation, first and foremost in the economic sphere and the distribution of Turkmen gas.”
He and Putin verbally agreed that their countries would adhere to a 25-year gas deal signed in 2003 by Saparmurat Niyazov, the Turkmen leader who died last December, a communiqué released after their meeting said. Russia is likely to secure a signed pledge to honor the old contract during President Putin’s visit of the country in May, experts say.
Gazprom also fears that Turkmenistan may fail on the 2006 contract to send to Russia 162 billion cu. meters of gas at $100/1,000 cu. meters before 2009.
The Russian president told his Turkmen counterpart that Russia had launched a new leg of the gas pipeline system along the Caspian Sea and was currently pumping more than 5 million cubic meters of gas through it daily.” Turkmen President declared his interest in the project.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 25, 2007
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