EU Energy Supply: Russia and Turkey turn on EU gas pipeline

Russia and Turkey have turned on a new gas pipeline to the EU, continuing efforts to lock in Russia's best customer.

The TurkStream pipeline launch was "a very important event not only for Russia and Turkey, but also for the states of southern Europe, for the entire European continent", Russian president Vladimir Putin told press at a ceremony in Istanbul on Wednesday (8 January).

And European countries were "already expressing very great interest" in buying the gas, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Putin praised the pipeline as a feat of modern engineering.

"It is a high-tech project because the gas pipeline runs at tremendous depth, as well as in a very hostile environment," he said.

Erdogan said its symbolism recalled "Ottoman times", when tsars and sultans first built relations 500 years ago.

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Ukraine Russia Conflict: Trump refuses to condemn Russian aggression - by Nicole Gaouette

As world leaders denounced Russia's aggression against Ukraine, President Donald Trump waited more than a day before offering a muted response about the clash, leaving the task of criticizing Moscow to the outgoing US ambassador to the UN.

When asked how he felt about the clash, Trump said, "not good. Not happy about it at all." He seemed reluctant to blame Russia, adding, "we do not like what's happening either way. And hopefully it will get straightened out.

Trump spoke to reporters just days before he is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin at a G20 meeting in Argentina.

In the 24 hours after Russian ships opened fire on and seized three Ukrainian vessels near Crimea, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May, the foreign ministers of Germany, the UK and Canada,

European members of the Security Council, including France, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK, as well as several US lawmakers expressed grave concern and called for a de-escalation.

During that time, the President and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo remained silent on the serious escalation in tensions between the two countries. After Trump spoke to reporters, a day and a half after the confrontation, Pompeo released a statement expressing "deep concern," condemning Russia and calling for restraint from "both parties.

But it fell to Ambassador Nikki Haley to reprise her role as the administration's leading and toughest voice on Russia, leaving analysts concerned that the White House silence and then Trump's low-key response would be read as encouragement, if not acquiescence.

Read more: Ukraine Russia: Trump refuses to condemn Russian aggression - CNNPolitics