Greek energy minister rejects US concerns over TurkStream

Energy Minister Panayiotis Lafazanis on Friday hit back angrily at comments by US energy official Amos Hochstein maintaining that the potential extension of Russia?s as yet unbuilt TurkStream gas pipeline through Greece could create a ?problem area.?

?Greece is not a plot of land and cannot be blackmailed, nor does it believe that its energy-related choices could become any kind of problem area,? he said.

On the contrary, he said, ?the decision to support a pipeline with Russian gas on Greek territory is beneficial for the nation and the economy.?

Diplomatic sources in Athens have suggested the Greek government is concerned that Moscow is mulling alternative routes which could potentially exclude Greece from the plans.

During a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow earlier this week, Slovakia?s Prime Minister Robert Fico put forward a plan that would see his country, plus another three European states, connected to the Russia-Turkey pipeline that will carry gas all the way to the Greek-Turkish border.