Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov threw cement into the foundation of a Russian school in Ashkhabad
as if competing who gets tired of it first.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Vladimir Putin Leads Colleagues Overland
// The Caspian land pipeline prevailed over the trans-Caspian one
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov will meet in Turkmenbashi city on Saturday. They will sign the declaration on constructing the Caspian land pipeline for natural gas, which is Russia’s significant foreign policy victory.
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday. They laid cement into the foundation of a Russian school in Ashkhabad. On Saturday, they will go to Turkmenbashi city. It is quite likely they will discuss the idea to build a gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast, overland, from Turkmenistan thru Kazakhstan to Russia.
A high-placed source in the Russian administration said that two declarations will be signed on Saturday: three-sided (Russia-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan) and four-sided (plus Uzbekistan). It will concern two pipelines, one of which will go thru the territory of the three countries, and another is already crossing the lands of the four countries and needs complete renovation.
The source said that constructing the overland pipeline will take away the relevance of building the trans-Caspian pipeline, which western countries suggest laying along the Caspian Sea bottom, detouring Russia.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 12, 2007
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