Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Against the background of the ongoing rivalry between Russia and Turkey, the Turkish Stream - Gazprom’s new export pipeline designed to supply gas to Turkey and transit through it to Europe, faces a number of serious problems.

Among them, the main ones are considered to be the multidirectional priorities of the two main pipeline operators. For Moscow, the project, which was commissioned in 2020, is the most important means of delivering Russian gas to European markets. In turn, Ankara sees Turkish Stream as just another opportunity to diversify its already numerous options for gas imports.

Moreover, Turkey’s attempts to use the energy project as an instrument of pressure on Russia have become increasingly obvious recently. This explains the emerging tendency of a serious reduction in the purchases of Russian gas by the Turkish side, which is increasingly giving preference to Azerbaijani and Iranian energy resources.

And Turkish Stream has not changed this trend.

Against this background, another blow to the energy project was the outcome of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which further strengthened Turkish-Azerbaijani ties to the detriment of the already uneasy relations between Moscow and Ankara.

In this context, it is clear that following the latest changes in its foreign policy, Turkey is likely to change the structure of energy imports in favor of Azerbaijan and to the detriment of Gazprom. In this case, the rival Southern Gas Transportation Corridor, which is a major gas route running from Azerbaijan to Southern Europe through Turkey, puts a spoke in the wheel for Turkish Stream.

Thus, the prospects for the Turkish Stream largely depend on the nature of the relationship between Russia and Turkey, which are entering a new period of competition. In this regard, the future of Russian gas exports to the south of Europe was in limbo.