President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia would stop construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, shelving a strategically important project that Moscow was counting on to cement its influence in south-eastern Europe.
The European Commission has refused to give Gazprom the exemption it would need to operate the pipeline at full capacity, viewing it as a potential further tool for the Kremlin to exert economic control over southern and eastern Europe.
Mr Putin said that Moscow would look instead at developing a gas hub to southern Europe via Turkey, the subject of a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries on Monday.
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