Greece’s far-left energy minister told Russian media on Friday that Washington was negative towards the idea of extending Russia’s proposed natgas pipeline from Turkey to Greece. Nevertheless, he said his government was still keen on the project, dubbed “Greek Stream” by supporters, the extension of “Turkish Stream”.

Relevant minister Panagiotis Lafazanis was quoted by the state-run Sputnik agency hours after he arrived for lighting visit to the Russian capital
“Unfortunately, as to the pipeline with the Russian gas, the position of the United States is negative. The US side took this position officially during the recent meeting I personally had with the US official responsible for energy issues,” Lafazanis was quoted as saying by the pro-Kremlin news agency Sputnik.
Turkish Stream emerged from the drawing boards after Moscow’s long-sought South Stream project fizzled. While Erdogan’s Turkey is on board the project, any continuation towards west European markets would need access to either Bulgaria or Greece.
“For all these reasons, we support the pipeline, we want it to be laid across the Greek territory and we are convinced that it would be an input to all the European nations and to Europe as such and we fully disagree with the position of the United States on this issue.”
Lafazanis, who heads the unofficial internal opposition within ruling SYRIZA party, the virulently anti-capitalist and internationalist “Left Platform”, also claimed that another route for Russian gas to Europe – bypassing Ukraine, for instance, would add to “energy security”.
Of course, the provider of the natgas would be the same: Russia.