President Erdogan to return to Sochi
One of the most important developments last week was the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi where the main agenda item was Syria.
No agreement was signed nor did the two leaders receive any questions from journalists after the press conference that both attended.
A brief statement following the meeting revealed that Erdogan would visit Sochi again on Nov. 22, when he will meet Putin as well as the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The main reason furnished for these “intensive traffic of meetings” is said to be down to the steps that Turkey wants to take regarding an impending military operation in Syria's Afrin city.
According to Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the Afrin region controlled by the Syrian Kurds will be the main agenda item of the high-level summit that Turkey will hold with Iran and Russia in Sochi. Speaking to the newspaper, experts say that the military intervention in Afrin could create new conflicts in Syria.
According to the experts, Turkey would need to engage its own army in a comprehensive conflict because of the 10,000 Kurdish militants located in Afrin. They also underline that Moscow is reluctant to support an operation in Afrin.
Major developments in the future of Afrin are likely to be shaped during the summit in Sochi this week.
Gazprom acknowledges risks for “TurkStream gas pipeline project”
New U.S. sanctions against Russia pose a risk for the completion of pipeline projects including the and Nord Stream II gas pipeline projects.
In a report published by the Russian energy company Gazprom, new U.S. sanctions against Russia could negatively affect foreign investments in the company.
"The U.S. Treasury Department needs to clarify the scope of the sanctions so risks can be analyzed correctly," the report said, adding that due to the sanctions, risks exist for the completion of all pipeline projects, including the and NordStream II.
With the newly enacted U.S. law on Aug. 2, the U.S. president has been authorized to impose restrictive measures on any person or company that invests in the construction and maintenance of Russian pipelines, supplies technology, or serves Russian companies. A recent publication by the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) suggests that uncertainty has been created in the European natural gas market due to the new U.S. sanctions on Russia.