Anapa

One of the worst ecological disasters in the region in years has been caused by the oil spill following the sinking of two tankers in the Black Sea, now covering almost 50 kilometers of coastline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan aboard an installation vessel on June 23, telling him that work on the Turkish Stream pipeline has started in its deep-water section.

"Our projects with Turkey are developing in a way unlike they are with our many other partners," Putin said, according to the Sputnik new agency.

Alexander Ivannikov, First Deputy Head of the Department for Finance & Economics at Gazprom, has announced a major spike in the cost of the South Stream gas pipeline.