Russian-Turkish energy initiatives ‘dividing’ Europe, US official quoted as saying

The US is opposed to the TurkStream gas pipeline, which carries Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey and was inaugurated on Wednesday, and the Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea as undermining European energy security and unity, a senior State Department official has been quoted as saying.

"Nord Stream 2 and the second line of TurkStream do nothing to advance Europe's energy security goals and would provide Russia another tool for the political and economic coercion of European countries, especially Ukraine," the unnamed official told the Hellas Journal website.

"Russia understands that these projects are dividing Europe, and is using that to its advantage," the official was quoted as saying.

Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey inaugurated the project on Wednesday at a ceremony in Istanbul that was...